THE OWLS 223 



Sunbeam, with a broken wing. This was deftly set, and it 

 soon grew well. Ere long it became quite tame. 



One day when the doctor and the children were playing 

 with the Owl it fell down an opening into the coal bunkers, 

 and, fluttering along, it disappeared behind the boilers. 

 Every one thought it would be scalded to death, and gave 

 up the chase. But five days afterwards the fugitive was 

 found — in the screw funnel ! just as the yacht was getting 

 up steam. It was "as black as a coal, as thin as a 

 skeleton, and covered with grease." As may be supposed, 

 it was glad enough to come out and set to work on the 

 food put before it. 



I do not know whether this particular Owl was averse 

 to undergoing the good wash which it so badly needed. 

 But some species by no means dislike cold water. One 

 who has kept tame Owls, Mr. Frank Bolles, tells of a pair 

 which "not only drank water freely, but took prolonged 

 baths whenever they had the chance. 



" Their tank was one foot and a half long, a foot wide, 

 and ten inches deep. On the arrival of fresh water Flufiy 

 . . . would test the depth before ducking his head, and 

 then, holding out his wings, he would pump the water 

 under them, flapping his tail and otherwise drenching 

 himself When thus soaked he became about the size of a 

 plucked pigeon, the colour of a crow, and a dismal object 

 to look upon. His eyes, at such times, would stand out 

 from his drenched and dripping feathers in a most un- 

 pleasant way." The surprising thing was the way they 

 kept up this custom of bathing even when the cold was 

 very severe. And it was not because they did not feel it ; 

 for their owner tells us that on such occasions they used 

 to sit shivering for hours before their fluft" and feathers 

 grew dry. 



