Snowy Visitors. 1 69 



glimpse of what seemed only a shadow ; saw it poise 

 and shoot downward before I could find it with my 

 gun sight, striking the decoys with a great splash and 

 clatter. Before he discovered his mistake or could get 

 started again, I had him. The next moment Don 

 came ashore, proud as a peacock, bringing a great 

 snowy owl with him — a rare prize, worth ten times 

 the trouble we had taken to get it. 



Owls are generally very lean and muscular ; so 

 much so, in severe winters, that they are often unable 

 to fly straight when the wind blows ; and a twenty- 

 knot breeze catches their broad wings and tosses 

 them about helplessly. This one, however, was fat 

 as a plover. When I stuffed him, I found that he 

 had just eaten a big rat and a meadow-lark, hair, 

 bones, feathers and all. It would be interesting to 

 know what he intended to do with the cluck. Per- 

 haps, like the crow, he has snug hiding places here 

 and there, where he keeps things against a time of 

 need. 



Every severe winter a few of these beautiful owls 

 find their way to the lonely places of the New Eng- 

 land coast, driven southward, no doubt, by lack of 

 food in the frozen north. Here in Massachusetts 

 they seem to prefer the southern shores of Cape Cod, 

 and especially the island of Nantucket, where besides 

 the food cast up by the tides, there are larks and 



