INTRODUCTION. vii 



who rather belong to the class known as closet, than pdd natural- 

 ists ; the latter knowing well that it is really almost impossible to 

 conceive of a position which is not sometimes assumed by the 

 living bird. Of this fact I have recently been more convinced 

 than ever from the study of two living specimens of Owls — the 

 Snowy Owl and the Short-eared Owl — which have been in my 

 possession for some months. F"or instance, taking one out of the 

 many positions indulged in by the first of these birds, what would 

 my criticising friends have thought and said had I represented him 

 as a round ball of white feathers, head hardly perceptible, feet 

 entirely concealed, and squatting on the ground like a hen covering 

 her chickens. Yet this is the position in which I always find my 

 Snowy Owl when I unexpectedly enter her abode. When aroused, 

 however, she draws herself i^ip, her head and feet become visible, 

 and she presents such a figure as one of those given on the two 

 Plates W'hich have been allotted to this species in this work. The 

 Short-eared Owl has many remarkable attitudes, and most of these 

 differing from any of those in which the bird is figured in ornitho- 

 logical works. His wings are seldom kept close to his body, but 

 rather in a drooping position, and either resting on the perch on 

 which he sits, or, as the case may be, trailing on the ground ; while 

 his head is generally sunk deeply between his shoulders. In fine, 

 the attitude of a bird is anything conceivable. The form of the 

 bird is of far greater importance than its attitude, and in the speci- 

 mens selected for this work this w^as carefully perpetuated by 

 means of girths and numerous measurements made from the bird 

 zohile in the flesh, and generally immediately after death. 



Of still greater importance, however, than either of the fore- 

 going points, is the careful selection, already referred to, ot proper 

 or typical forms of plumage, of young, old, male and female birds. 

 Compared with this the attitude is of but trifling consideration, and 

 It would have served the purpose of this work equally well had I 

 simply selected and photographed appropriate unmounted skins. 

 Indeed, had it been necessary in order to show properly some 

 specific detail connected with the feet and claws, I should not have 

 hesitated to have mounted the bird accommodatingly holding forth 

 his foot for the inspection of the enquiring student ; so when the 



