310 SNOWY OWL. 



noise or clank, by striking the two mandibles 

 together. The gardener could put his fingers into 

 the owl's mouth, without having them nipped, or 

 without the bird's attempting to bite. Perhaps 

 this was the result of habit or education, from Mr 

 Lawson having daily fed him in that mode for 

 some weeks. But the claws were evidently the 

 principal offensive weapons on which the animal 

 depended, and they were sharp, dangerous, and 

 powerful. Mr Lawson observed that, latterly, 

 when he got a favourite piece of meat, he trans- 

 fixed it, and held it firm with the claw of the 

 back or inner toe, in the manner of our Vulture 

 ( Cathartes papa) ; not with the fore- toes and claws 

 like our Eagle (Falco albidlla). Mr Audubox 

 mentioned, that a Snowy Owl, kept in confine- 

 ment by him, used to feed on small fishes, or pieces 

 of fish, placed in water, but our bird declined that 

 sort of food. On one occasion the gardener forced 

 a small fish down his throat, and next day the 

 bones were vomited in the form of a pellet, being 

 the only instance in w r hich we observed this cir- 

 cumstance. When a pigeon was given to him, we 

 had to pluck off the feathers before he would 

 touch it. 



" The hoot of our Owl consisted of two notes, 

 somewhat resembling the call of the cuckoo, but 

 shorter or quicker. He also occasionally uttered 

 a single unharmonious note, not unlike the croak- 



