68 THE SNOWY OWL. 



his face!" exclaimed my little boy, as I raised those long, 

 loose feathers, arranged in the manner of a disk on the cheek 

 of this bird. ^' That is his ear," I said; "all Owls have their 

 ears in their cheeks." "That's a wonderfully big ear, I 

 think; what does he have it covered up for?" he queried. 

 "That is the fashion with birds; they generally have their 

 ears covered," I replied. "Should think he'd want to have 

 such a hole in his face covered," he continued. "He's got 

 his face well wrapped up," said my little girl, as I parted 

 the thick mass of feathers covering the face and the black 

 bill almost to the very tip. "Shouldn't think his feet 'ud 

 get cold either with such stockings. I wish he'd let me 

 have 'em for my dolly this cold weather!" 



This bird is, indeed, most wonderfully protected againt 

 the cold. Not only are the feet and legs so thickly covered 

 with a long, dense, hair-like plumage, that the great, black 

 claws are almost concealed, but the entire plumage of the 

 body beneath the surface is of the most downy and elastic 

 kind, and so thickly matted together that it is almost proof 

 against the smaller kind of ammunition. 



"Wish I had some of them for my doll's hat!" continued 

 the little girl, as I plucked off a few of the ostrich-like 

 plumes from the lower part of the body. 



Wilson notes a peculiarity of the eye of this bird, and of 

 the Owls generally. He says: "The globe of the eye is 

 immovably fixed in its socket by a strong, elastic, hard^ 

 cartilaginous case, in form of a truncated cone; this case, 

 being closely covered with a skin, appears, at first, to be of 

 one continued piece; but, on removing the exterior mem- 

 brane, it is found to be formed of fifteen pieces, placed like 

 the staves of a cask, overlapping a little at the base or nar- 

 row end, and seems as if capable of being enlarged or con- 

 tracted, perhaps by the muscular membrane with which 



