228 WASTE-LAND WANDERINGS. 



growth of another swamp near by, I was brought face 

 to face with a novelty, and very abruptly too. In a 

 small cedar-tree sat a magnificent snowy owl. 



In witless, blank astonishment I stared at the owl, and 

 it, without winking, stared at me. 



An owl's solemn visage is meant for the world ; what 

 is behind it is meant for itself, and this great snow- 

 white bird was thinking quite as rapidly and far more 

 rationally than I was. It was not at all alarmed. I 

 was ; for the appearance of the bird was suggestive of 

 direful results should it assume the offensive. But my 

 courage gradually returned, and I very cautiously ap- 

 proached a little nearer. How the owl watched my 

 every step! A few yards nearer, and I was so close 

 that the feathers of the bird were distinguishable, and I 

 began to examine more critically every feature, when it 

 stepped backward, and brought the trunk of the tree, 

 close to which it had been sitting, between me and itself, 

 and then took flight, going still deeper into the dismal 

 swamp. 



I had no little difficulty in following ; for the under- 

 growths were thickly matted, and afforded no footing 

 for mammals larger than mice, but in time reached 

 quite to the tree where the owl had alighted. It was a 

 dense cedar, heavily weighted with snow, and showing 

 but little of its green foliage ; and yet, with so gentle a 

 motion had the owl sought its perch, that not a flake 

 seemed to have been disturbed, and by mere chance 

 was I able to learn the bird's precise whereabouts. 



Being now much nearer the owl than before, it pur- 

 sued quite different tactics ; and instead of flying, al- 



