GREAT EAGLE-OWL. 437 



for, on rising, the tips of the claws frequently caught 

 hold and tripped it. Having perched on a box over 

 whicli were several folds of cloth, it seemed, in moving 

 about, to have fancied some living object to be beneath, 

 and pierced it with its talons a hundred times, dancing 

 as it were upon it, throwing out its wings, occasionally 

 crouching and pecking with its bill. In the same man- 

 ner it bored a hair mattress all over. On one of these 

 occasions it uttered a squeak like that of a small ani- 

 mal, the only sound, except hissing and clicking its 

 bill, that I heard it emit. Having heated itself with 

 the exercise, it stood panting a long while, much in the 

 manner of a dog, the throat swelling at each hurried 

 expiration. When perching on a narrow surface, it 

 made great use of its large wings to steady itself; and 

 often, when quietly perched, it spread out its wings and 

 flapped them strongly for a minute or more. When 

 roused from sleep, it sometimes yawned, stretched out 

 and flapped its wings, and extended its legs in succes- 

 sion. It trimmed its feathers like other birds, but I 

 never observed it applying to the uropygial gland for 

 unguent. In scratching its cheeks or head, the only 

 parts it cculd not reach with its bill, it used invariably 

 the inner dilated edge of the middle toe. 



The action of snapping or clicking is clearly produced 

 by the bill. In performing it, the bird did not open 

 its mouth beyond a quarter of an inch at most. The 

 conch of the ear was not thrown open under any cir- 

 cumstances, so as to be exposed to view. The eyes 

 formed an interesting subject of observation. The up- 

 per eyelid was very large, the lower narrow, so that, 

 when asleep, the former covered more than two-thirds 



