ENGLISH OWL 



The English Owl to-day is a very different one from 

 that of forty or fifty years ago. It was small and at- 

 tractive, but lacking the head-properties that it now has. 

 It is a strong, healthy bird, plump, with prominent 

 breast and broad chest ; the wings are strong and mus- 

 cular; neck, short and thick; legs, short and without 

 any feathering below the hock ; tail and flights, very 

 short, and the head, which should be large, broad, 

 heavy, and massive, is carried in a jaunty and kingly 

 fashion; beak is short, curving downward, and carrying 

 out an unbroken curve from back of head to tip of 

 beak; the beak-wattle is fine and small; eye, set low in 

 head, is bold and prominent ; the gullet must be largely 

 developed, commencing from under the lower mandible 

 and running into the rosette. There are Blues, Silvers, 

 Powdered Blues and Silvers, Blue and Silver Chequers, 

 Whites, Yellows, and Reds. 



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