332 



CITIZEN BIRD 



This beautiful white Owl, marked here and there 

 with black bars and spots, had a smooth round head like 



a snowball, great yel- 

 low eyes, and thick- 

 ly feathered feet ; 

 his bill and claws were 

 black, but you could 

 hardly see them for the 

 thickness of the feathers 

 in which they were 

 WJiii' %:^^^0^^^^>^ i^i^ffled up. He 

 l' '^JIL >^^^^^^^ ^:^ v^^A ^vinked with each 



eye, clicked his 

 bill once or 

 twice, and thus 

 began : 



" I'm a very 

 good-looking 

 bird, as you 

 see — fatally 

 beautiful, in 

 fact ; for 



House People 

 shoot me, not 

 on account of 

 my sins, but be- 

 cause I can be 

 stuffed and sold 

 for an ornament. I do not stay long enough' in the 

 parts of the country where they live, to do much harm, 

 even were 1 a wicked Owl. j\Iy home is in Arctic re- 

 gions, where my feather-lined nest rests on the ground, 



Snowy Owl 



