. Roosevelt's African trip; the story of his life, the voyage from New York to Mombasa, and the route through the heart of Africa, including the big game and other ferocious animals, strange peoples and countries found in the course of his travels . revent it from daily becoming more and more putrid,and giving off odors which would carry disease and even death. Owls.—The second great group of the birds of prey are theowls, which hunt principally by night. During the day-time they hide BIRDS OF PREY 251 themselves away in hollow trees or old ruins, into Which the unwelcomelight cannot penetrate
. Roosevelt's African trip; the story of his life, the voyage from New York to Mombasa, and the route through the heart of Africa, including the big game and other ferocious animals, strange peoples and countries found in the course of his travels . revent it from daily becoming more and more putrid,and giving off odors which would carry disease and even death. Owls.—The second great group of the birds of prey are theowls, which hunt principally by night. During the day-time they hide BIRDS OF PREY 251 themselves away in hollow trees or old ruins, into Which the unwelcomelight cannot penetrate; and it is not until some little time after sunsetthat they make their appearance. Then through the hours of nightthey hunt for prey, and can see their victims as clearly in the darknessas hawks can in broad day-light. Now, it is evident enough that theeyes of the owds must be very differently formed from those of thehawks, for otherwise they w^ould be of no use at all after , when we come to examine them, we find at once that such is theca-e. Not only are their eyes very large themselves, but, as you musthave noticed, they are surrounded by a kind of circular ring, sometimescomposed of white feathers and sometimes of THE SECRETARY BIRD If the thick plumage of the owls head were all set In the usualmanner, the feathers would project so far in front of the eyes that thebird would have scarcely any range of sight. But the curious featherycircle which surrounds the owls eyes serves as a narrow slit in a deepwindow casing, and enables it to see in all directions; so that, withoutmoving its head, it is able to keep watch over a very large extent ofcountry. In other parts of their struc/in-e Ine owls are not at all unlike th>? 282 BIRDS OF PREY hawks, having the same powerful muscles and the same sharp andterrible talons. How useful these claws are you may judge from thefact that, even in so small a bird as the common barn owl, they canbe used with such fo
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectgameandgamebirds
