SNOWY OWT. 149 
like cther fisherrnen, watch for from the brink of a stream. 
Their mode, however, of angling, is in this case, as described 
by Audubon, a very peculiar one: they approach the brink of 
a rock, lay down flat upon it close to the water, and when 
a fish comes within reach, strike at if with their +alone and 
secure it with this natural kind of gaff. 
The note is said sometimes to resemble the ery of a person 
in danger, bus ordinarily it seems to resemble that of the 
Cuckoo, but is shorter and quicker. They also hiss and futt 
like a cat, and make a snapping noise with their bills, 
and sometimes croak like a frog. 
The nest is made on the ground, or upon rocks, though 
sometimes, it is said, in trees, and is composed of branches. 
The eggs are white, but by Veillot said to be spotted with 
black, and two, three, or four in number, of which only two 
are thought to be in general hatched. 
Male; “weight, about three pounds or a little over; length, 
from one foot ten or eleven inches to two feet; bill, black; 
iris, bright yellow; bristly white feathers fs hide the bill. 
The ruff round the head is scarcely apparent; it and the 
crewr, neck, nape, chin, throat, breast, and back, are white 
in the fuliy aduit bird, but spotted in less mature specimens 
as in the female, but the spots are not so dark. The wings 
extend to rather more than two thirds the length of the tail, 
and expand to about four feet nine inches; greater and lesser 
wing coverts, white. Primaries also white: the first is some- 
times longer than the fifth, but often shorter; the second 
and fourth are nearly equal, and a little shorter than the 
third, which is the “longest. Secondaries, tertiaries, larger 
and lesser under wing coverts, all white; tail, wedge-shaped; 
tail coverts, white. Legs, rough and completely covered with 
long hairy feathers, which almost conceal the claws; the toes 
are also covered by the plumage. Claws, black, very long, 
and much curved, the inner and middle onee grooved, the 
others round. 
The female dces not often attain to the perfectly white 
plumege; the spots are at the end of each feather, and of 
a crescent shape on the breast, and more elongated on the 
back. Weight, above three pounds; length, from two feet 
one or two, to two feet three inches; bill, black; iris, bright 
yellow; bristles as in the male. Head on the crown, thickly 
studded with round black spots; neck and nape, spotted with 
dark brown; chin, throat, and breast, white, spotted more or 
