THE WHITE WINTER COAT 343 



a field, 80 per cent, white or black and conspicuous, 20 

 per cent, spotted and inconspicuous. In a short time 

 twenty-four were killed by crows, but only one of the 

 killed was spotted. In this case the quality of whiteness 

 was disadvantageous, but in the North or among the 

 mountains those animals who turn white in winter are 

 likely to have their chances of life improved. This, at 

 least, is an outline of the selectionist interpretation of the 

 origin and significance of the white winter dress. 



No better example of a victorious creature could be 

 given than the snowy owl (Nyctea scandica), a native of 

 the barren grounds of the " Far North/' that sometimes 

 visits us in very cold winters. It is a big bird, about two 

 feet in length, of white plumage with variable dark spots 

 and bars ; it has a strong and easy flight, and hunts by 

 day, picking up snow-birds like the ptarmigan, snow- 

 mammals like the Alpine hare, besides lemming and mice, 

 and even fishes. It has a wide distribution and a successful 

 life ; it seems indifferent to storms, except in so far as 

 they destroy its food ; it is wary but fearless, and a pair 

 of them will attack a man who comes near the nest among 

 the reindeer moss. The male is said to feed the mother 

 and her large brood. The harmony between the plumage 

 and the snowflakes is but one expression of the successful 

 balance that this great bird has struck between the in- 

 surgent claims of an imperious nature and the insouciance 

 of a merciless physical environment of the very hardest 

 type. " The cry, seldom heard, is wild and wailing," but 

 it is a cry of victory, for the bird has solved its problem and 

 is master of its fate. There seems a dim consciousness of 

 this in its fierce eyes. 



