OWLS. 



147 



Eared Owls, we insert a figure representing the head of the 

 Long-eared Owl. 



Their note is a singula* 

 snapping noise, not issuing from 

 the throat, hut occasioned 

 entirely by a smart clicking of 

 the hill : so rapid, indeed, is this 

 motion, that it is with difficulty 

 the opening or shutting of the 

 mandibles can he observed. As 

 it is a bird of courage, the 

 sportsman must be cautious how 

 he attempts to handle it, for it 

 has been known to spring up in 

 the fiercest manner, and offer a 

 most desperate resistance. 



There are upwards of sixty 

 species of Owls, widely spread over almost every part of the 

 known world : of these, we may count not fewer than eight 

 as more or less frequenting this country ; of which by far the 

 most beautiful is the great Snowy Owl, which may fairly, from 



The Owl. 



Eye and Bill of Owl. 



Head of Long-eared Owl. 



its size and noble appearance, be called the very king of Owls. 

 It is a rare visitant, indeed, in England, chiefly confining 

 itself to the wildest and most desolate regions of the north, 

 where, amidst almost perpetual snows, it passes its solitary 

 life. When in perfection, its plumage is of the most dazzling 



