The Prairie Owl. 185 



The Snow Bunting seldom perches on trees, but appears to 

 prefer resting on the ground, or rather on a stone or a little 

 mound of earth. Bechstein relates that he kept a pair for 

 six years in his aviary, and found them to be very tame and 

 gentle, but extremely impatient of heat; which is not surprising, 

 when one considers that the habitat of this bird is among the 

 snows of Lapland, and more northern regions still. 



I have omitted to state that the strong legs and feet of the 

 Snow Bunting are black. 



Little or nothing is known of the habits of these birds in 

 their wild state, but from the fact of their breeding in high 

 latitudes, where the summer is of short duration, it is presum- 

 able that there is only one brood of young in the season : there 

 is no record of the Snow Bunting remaining to breed in this 

 country that I am aware of. 



CHAPTER LXVIII. 



THE PEAIKIE OWL. 



THEEE are few birds that bear so strong a likeness to 

 each other as the Owls, that constitute, so to speak, such 

 a distinct ''natural family" as these nocturnal Baptatores, in 

 all of which the body is small and compactly put together; 

 small, that is to say for the height, and expanse of wing of 

 the bird, but made to look ever so much larger than it really 

 is by the strong pinions furnished with broad soft primaries, 

 and the immensely thick covering of downy feathers with 

 which it is warmly clad. 



This lightness of body, large expanse of wing, and density 

 of coating, enable the Owls to glide noiselessly, if not swiftly, 

 through the stillness and gloom of the night, to creep silently 

 and surely on their slumbering or unsuspecting prey, and to 



