28 BEACH GRASS 



marked that an obvious stump near, with patches 

 of snow on it, closely resembled a sitting 

 owl, the stump opened its wings and flew 

 away I 



That great owl from the white North, the 

 snowy owl, I have been privileged to see a num- 

 ber of times in the dunes, and have described 

 some of these encounters in "Sand Dunes and 

 Salt Marshes." On a January day in 1913 I 

 saw one of these great birds, a rather dark in- 

 dividual, sitting on a dune top near Eagle Dune. 

 I stalked him within fifty yards, when he arose, 

 and, in the strong wind, poised motionless like a 

 kite. His great wings and tail were spread to 

 the full extent and the tips of the larger feathers 

 of the wings were bent up with the air pressure. 

 Alternately gliding and flapping, he skimmed low 

 over the beach grass, occasionally stretching his 

 neck and lifting his great round head above the 

 level of the back and looking about. Twice he 

 alighted on the dunes, sitting not erect as this 

 bird is usually depicted, but with body inclined 

 at the angle of about forty-five degrees. The 

 next December I watched another snowy owl in 



