160 ACCIPITRES. 



defined angle over the beak, are directed outwards, and form 

 a very close shade to the eyes. 



The whole plumage is more compact and smooth than that 

 of any other British species, and particularly more so than 

 those which inhabit woods, and have the shelter of them in 

 the inclement weather. Their covering is generally so con- 

 structed as that they may glide through the sprays, yielding 

 to these as they pass, and thus pursue a noiseless course in 

 places where many of even the small birds would occasion a 

 rustling. The snowy owl, on the other hand, is tempered to 

 the storm, and perhaps better defended against the cold than 

 any other bird. The only parts of it that are exposed are 

 the tip of the beak, the points of the claws, and the eyes. 

 Eyes do not feel cold, in consequence of the texture of the 

 external parts, and the inferior conducting power of the sub- 

 stance of which they are composed ; and the same may be 

 said of the beak and claws. Every part of the owl that 

 could feel cold, or have its power of motion benumbed, is 

 completely muffled up in plumage, the colour, the texture, 

 and the abundance of which all contribute to enable it to 

 live, and not to live merely, but to seek its food safely and 

 successfully in the utmost violence of those snow-storms with 

 which winter sets in on the Arctic lands. 



It is chiefly found in those dismal countries, and performs 

 not an unimportant part in nature's operations there. The 

 long summer days, the rapidity with which vegetation pro- 

 ceeds under the continual action of a never-setting sun, and 

 the vast production of insects and mountain berries which 

 are the result, enable different species of grous to rear their 

 broods more abundantly and more certainly than they do in 

 climates farther to the south. Those products of the Arctic 

 season which supply food to the broods of these birds would 

 be lost if the birds were not so abundant ; and it is a law in 

 nature that nothing shall be lost. But the grous could not 



