417 



"t the Ohio ... I had an opportunity of seeing thin owl secure fish 

 in the following manner \\liil. \\atching for their prey on the borders 

 <>t tin pots, they in\arial>l\ l.i\ tl.ii on the rock, with the body pluced 

 l n-thui-i itloiiu: tin- border >! the hole, the head also laid down, but 

 turned toward- tin water. One nii^ht have supposed the bird sound 

 asleep, as it would remain in the same position until a good oppor- 

 tunity of securing a fish occurred, which, I believe, was never missed ; 

 tor as the latter unwittingly rose to the surface near the edge, that 

 instant the owl thrust out the foot next the water, and, with the 

 quickness of lightning, seized it and drew it out. The owl then 

 removed to the distance of a few yards, devoured its prey, and 

 returned to the same hole, or, if it had not perceived any more fish, 

 flew only a few yards over the many pots there, marked a likely one, 

 and alighted at a distance from it It then squatted, moved slowly 

 towards the edge, and lay as before, watching for an opportunity. 

 Whenever a fish of any size was hooked, as I may My, the owl struck 

 the other foot also into it, and flew off with it to a considerable 

 distance." 



While some hold that the heavily barred form of snowy-owl which 

 is sometimes met with represents the immature plumage, others are of 

 opinion that this bird, like the tawny-owl and the Greenland falcon, is 

 dimorphic. That is to say, that the heavily barred forms, though they 

 may reduce this character, to a limited extent, with age, are always 

 conspicuously barred ; while individuals conspicuous for their lack of 

 barring have, similarly, always been so distinguished. More remarkable 

 still is an observation by Mr. C. W. Beebe, 1 of the New York Zoological 

 hardens. \\|,o. after pointini: >ut that old male birds are sometimes 

 almost pun- \\hite in colour, ^oes on to remark that a male shot in 

 Alaska had the plumage suffused with a " rich and extremely beautiful 

 shade of clear lemon-yellow, exactly as the rose-blush clothes the 

 entire plumage of some gulls in spring. The morning after the bird 

 was killed the colour was gone, the plumage being dead white." 



1 The BUvtnth Annual Report ofUwNtw York Zoological Society. 



