CHAPTER EIGHT BIRDS ^REPTILES 



The eastern coast of Scotland, owing to its proximity to 

 Sweden and Norway, and also to the great prevalence of 

 easterly winds, is often visited by foreign birds. Amongst 

 these is that splendid stranger the snowy owl, who occa- 

 sionally is blown over to our coast from his native fast- 

 nesses amongst the mountains and forests of the north of 

 Europe. Now and then one of these birds is killed here, 

 and I was told of one having been seen two or three years 

 back on part of the ground rented by me. He was sitting 

 on a high piece of muirland, and at a distance looked, said 

 my informant, "like a milestone." This bird was pursued 

 for some hours, but was not killed. The snowy owl has been 

 also seen, to the astonishment of the fisherman or bent- 

 puller, on the sand-hills, where he finds plenty of food 

 amongst the rabbits that abound there. One was winged 

 in that district a few years ago, and lived for some time in 

 confinement. He was a particularly fine old bird, with per- 

 fect plumage, and of a great size. I am much inclined to 

 think that the great-eared owl, Strix buboes, also occasion- 

 ally a visitor to the wildest parts of this district. A man de- 

 scribed to me a large bird which he called an eagle. The 

 bird was sitting on a fir-tree, and his attention was called 



great force to wrench aside the portion of the fruit attacked, and then the action of the 

 tongue completes the operation [by extracting the seed], which is so rapidly perfo- med 

 as to defy scrutiny, except on very close inspection. Fortunately, the birds soon become 

 tame in confinement, and a little patience will enable an attentive observer to satisfy 

 himself as to the process, the result of which at first seems almost as unaccountable as 

 that ol a clever conjuring trick. " — [Newton's Dictionary of Birds, p. 114.] 



It is a remarkable fact that, when kept in confinement, the male birds part with the 

 splendid flaming hues which make them so conspicuous in a wild state. Young males 

 captured before their first moult never assume the red plumage; in caged adults the 

 bright feathers become tawny oryellow. Moreover, the red hue soon fadesfrom museum 

 specimens, defying the skill of the taxidermist to preserve it.— Ed. 

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