196 FROM BLOMIDON TO SMOKY. 



only a few inches wide, with two jagged points 

 rising from its upper margin. When blown out 

 and defiant, his bill is snapping like a pair of 

 castanets, and his yellow eyes are opening and 

 shutting and dilating and contracting their pu- 

 pils in a way worthy of a fire-breathing Chinese 

 drao*on. In repose he is neither inflated nor 

 sleek, but a well-rounded, comfortable mass of 

 feathers. The barred owls go through the same 

 processes of expanding and arching out their 

 wings when awaiting attack, and of drawing all 

 their feathers closely to their sides when endeav- 

 oring to avoid observation. As noted before 

 Puffy once escaped into the woods, perched 

 upon a small oak stump, drew his feathers into 

 such a position that he seemed a mere continu- 

 ation of the stump, closed his feathered eyelids 

 until only a narrow slit remained for him to 

 peep through, and stayed perfectly stiff for an 

 hour while I hunted for liim high and low. I 

 passed by him several times without bringing 

 my eyes to the point of recognizing him as a liv- 

 ing thing. This power is shared by the screech 

 owl and the long-eared owl. The plumage of 

 the snowy owl is so solid that he seems more 

 scaly or hairy than feathered. He does not, so 

 far as my specimen shows, expand and arch his 

 wings. Instead of standing straight and be- 

 coming slim and rigid, he crouches and flattens 



