Barn owl

Review bycanaryswear· 2026-11-05

It has thick feathers, eyes like spindle whorls, a curved bill. It is unkempt, fluffy. Its feathers are ashen, blotched like a quail’s. It is round-headed, stubby-tailed, round-winged. The eyes shine by night; they are weak by day. It is a night traveler which sees at night; it feeds, it lives by hunting. By day it is blinded by light; it sees little. It eats mice [and] lizards. It claws one. Tapalcatzotzonqui is the same as the barn owl. It is named tapalcatzotzonqui because its call is as if one struck potsherds, or rattled them. Thus does it sound. Chichtli is the same as barn owl. Tlalchiquatli is the same as the barn owl. It is small. For this reason is it called tlalchiquatli: its nest is in a hole, underground, where it lays eggs, sits, hatches its young. Only in a hole does it live; it is not a tree-climber, only a ground-dweller. It goes over the surface of the ground when it flies.