Owls BIRDS OF PREY. 



Note : A growl, a bark, and a hoot. 



Season : A winter visitor. 



Breeds : From Labrador northward. 



Nest : On ground, lined with feathers. 



Eggs : 5-10, laid at long intervals, so that when the last one is depos- 

 'ited the first bird is ready to fly. 



Range : Northern portions of the Northern Hemisphere ; in winter 

 migrating south to the Middle States, straggling to South Caro- 

 lina and the Bermudas. 



The Snowy Owl is one of the dramatic figures of the winter 

 landscape, and appears like a personification of Boreas him- 

 self, coining to superintend the arranging of his snow- 

 drapery. This Owl usually precedes or follows a severe 

 northeasterly storm, and when the snow has ceased, and 

 you go down the lane to the marsh meadows, breaking your 

 own path, the Buntings and Shore Larks are already about 

 searching for the few spears of seeded grass that are not 

 beaten down. 



The incoming tide in the creek breaks the thin ice into 

 cakes that lie one over another like transparent shingles on 

 the banks ; the flats are hidden by plates of burnished silver, 

 and the Gulls hover over the long bar. 



The sunshine seems blown off by the bleak wind, 



As pale as formal candles lit by day : 



Gropes to the sea the river dumb and blind ; 



The brown ricks, snow- thatched by the storm hi play, 



Show pearly breakers combing o'er their lee 



White crests as of some just enchanted sea, 



Checked in their maddest leap, and hanging poised midway. 



LOWELL. 



The oak island is edged with silver birches that stretch 

 marshward like whitened poles for holding some great nets. 

 Low down in one of them sits a motionless white figure. 

 Is it a Barred Owl, frozen and snow covered? No! it 

 swoops rapidly in a circle, and seizes a hapless Bunting, 

 and you expect to see the snow fall in powder from its 

 wings, but it returns to its perch white-flaked as before, 

 and you know that you are face to face with the Snowy Owl, 



214 



