“The barn-owl, the horned owl, the gray owl, the white owl, and other similar birds are known under the general name of nocturnal birds of prey. They are called birds of prey because they live by hunting game of various sorts, especially such rodents as rats and mice. They are among birds what the cat is among mammals, untiring destroyers of those fur-covered creatures of which the mouse is the most familiar example to you. Our language has long since taken note of this resemblance in habits by coining the name chat-huant [hooting cat], which is applied to some of these birds. They are cats that fly, that hoot, or, in other words, that utter cries like mournful howls of distress. Also, they are nocturnal; that is, they remain during the day in some obscure hiding-place, which they leave only at nightfall to hunt in the twilight and moonlight.
“Their eyes are very large and round and are placed in the front of the head instead of one on each side. A wide ring of fine feathers encircles each eye. The need for these enormous eyes is plainly seen in the birds’ nocturnal habits. Being obliged to seek their food in a very feeble light, they must, in order to see with any distinctness, have eyes that [[91]]admit as much light as possible; that is, the eyes must be such as can open wide.
“But this development of the organs of sight, so useful in the night-time, is a serious inconvenience in the bright light of day. Dazzled, blinded by the sun’s rays, the bird of darkness stays in some safe hole and dares not come out. If obliged to issue forth, it does so with extreme caution for fear of hurting itself. It wings its way with hesitation and in short slow flights. Other birds, birds of the day, seeing its uncertainty and awkwardness, come and vie with one another in offering insults to the clumsy stranger. The redbreast and the tomtit are among the first to hasten to the scene, followed by the finch, the blackbird, the jay, the thrush, and many others. Perched on a branch, the night-bird receives the aggressors with a grotesque balancing of its body, turning its big head this way and that in a ridiculous manner and rolling its great eyes as if thinking thus to terrify its persecutors. But all in vain. The smallest and weakest are the boldest in tormenting it; they assault their victim with beak and claw, pulling out its feathers before the hapless bird can muster courage to defend itself.”
“Just think,” said Emile, “of a teasing tomtit and a saucy redbreast making sport of an owl blinded by the sun! Why do they behave so?”
“From motives of revenge. The owl loses no opportunity to gobble up those little birds in the night, and shows no more compunction over it than if they were nothing but common mice. Therefore [[92]]what a frolic it is for the little winged people when by good luck the night-bird strays into the light of day! The pecks fall thick as hail on the sufferer’s back, and it is nearly deafened with shrill screams of triumph and insulting cries of hatred. The redbreast pulls out a feather, the tomtit threatens the enemy’s eyes, the jay overwhelms it with abuse. The whole grove is in an uproar. But beware when night closes in; then the boldest will lose courage. These same saucy little birds, that come in the daytime and insult the owl, flee from it in wild alarm as soon as darkness allows it to move about and use its powerful talons and hooked beak.”
“The redbreast had better get out of the owl’s way when the owl can see,” said Emile; “it would pay dearly if it tried then to pull out a feather.”
“On account of the great size of their eyes, nocturnal birds of prey require a soft light like that of dawn and nightfall. Consequently, they leave their lurking-places to hunt for prey either soon after sunset or just before dawn. Then it is that their raids are most likely to be successful, for they find the small animals either fast asleep or on the point of falling asleep. Moonlight nights are the best for their purposes; those are their nights of veritable joy and feasting, when they can hunt for hours at a time and lay in large supplies of choice provisions. But when there is no moon they have only one scant hour in the early morning and another in the evening for hunting. That means they must fast for [[93]]hours and that is why they are so greedy when they can get as much food as they want.”
“They are very silly to fast like that,” Emile declared. “In their place I should hunt all night, even without a moon.”
“You say that because you think the owl can see clearly in the blackest darkness. But you are mistaken. To see, we must not merely direct our gaze toward the object to be seen; we must receive into our eyes the light reflected from that object. In the act of seeing, nothing goes out from us; everything comes to us from the thing seen. We do not really throw our glance toward any given object; it is the object that throws its light toward us; or if it does not throw any light, it is for that reason invisible. What I am now saying about human beings applies to all animals. Not one, absolutely not one, can see in the absence of light.”
