INDIVIDUALITY IN BIRDS. 235 



few months were so radically different in temper 

 that every one who came near them recognized 

 the fact. One was quiet, dignified, and comj^ar- 

 atively tractable ; the other was belligerent, cross, 

 and untamable. To my eyes, the expressions of 

 their faces were as different as they would have 

 been in two persons of opposite temperaments. 

 That this difference in bird faces is real, and not 

 based upon the circumstances of the moment, ac- 

 cidents of position and color, or my own state of 

 mind, seems to me to be established by the fact 

 that, in a series of photographs of my barred 

 owls, taken at different periods, the identity of 

 each owl in a picture is as evident to me, and to 

 others who know the birds intimately, as though 

 they were men and women instead of birds. 



With me, belief in the individuality of birds 

 is a powerful influence against their destruction. 

 Like most men familiar with out of door life, I 

 have the hunting instinct strongly developed. 

 If a game bird is merely one of an abundant 

 species, killing it is only reducing the supply of 

 that species by one ; if, on the contrary, it is pos- 

 sessed of novel powers, or a unique combination 

 of powers, and can be distinguished from all its 

 fellows, killing it is destrojdng something which 

 cannot be replaced. No one with a conscience 

 would extinguish a species, yet I already feel to- 

 wards certain races that their individuals are as 



