78 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
this respect are persons who have been little on the jield themselves, or, in 
other words, who rather belong to the class known as closet than /ield 
naturalists; the latter knowing well that it is really almost impossible to 
conceive of a position which is not sometimes assumed by the living bird. 
Of this point 1 have recently been more convinced than ever from the study 
of two living specimens of Owls—the Snowy Owl and the Short-eared Owl— 
which have been in my possession for some months. For instance, taking 
one out of the many positions indulged in by the first of these birds, what 
would my criticising friends have thought and said had I represented him 
as a round ball of white feathers, head hardly perceptible, feet entirely con- 
cealed, and squatting on the ground like a hen covering her chickens? Yet 
this is the position in which J always find my Snowy Owl when I un- 
expectedly enter her abode. When aroused, however, she draws herself up, 
her head and feet become visible, and she presents such a figure as one of 
those given on the two plates allotted to this species in this work. 'The 
Short-eared Owl has many remarkable attitudes, and most of these differing 
from any of those in which the bird is figured in ornithological works. His 
wings are seldom kept close to his body, but rather in a drooping position, 
and either resting on the perch on which he sits, or, as the case may be, 
trailing on the ground; while his head is generally sunk deeply between 
his shoulders. In fine, the attitude of a bird is anything conceivable. ‘The 
form of the bird is of far greater importance than its attitude, and in the 
specimens selected for this work this was carefully perpetuated by means of 
girths and numerous measurements made from the bird while in the flesh, 
and generally immediately after death. 
“ Of still greater importance, however, than either of the foregoing points 
is the careful selection, already referred to, of proper or typical forms of 
plumage, of young, old, male and female birds. Compared with this, the 
attitude is of but trifling consideration, and it would have served the purpose 
of this work equally well had I simply selected and photographed appropriate 
unmounted skins. Indeed, had it been necessary in order to show properly 
some specific detail connected with the feet and claws, I should not have 
hesitated to have mounted the bird accommodatingly holding forth his foot 
for the inspection of the enquiring student; so when the exhibition of the 
under sides of the wing was desirable I have not hesitated to give the bird 
the necessary position. In fine, the main object of this work is practical 
utility—not a mere exhibition of pretty photographs.” 
On this point, the author, in the foregoing paragraph, has 
almost disarmed criticism, and, after reading what he says, 
we are inclined to agree with many of his arguments; for the 
purposes which he has in view, we must certainly say that the 
photographs, of whicl. there are no less than thirty, give in most 
