Snowy Visitors. I 73 



that he was fishing — and fishing Hke a true sports- 

 man, out on the ice alone, with only his own skill to 

 depend upon. In a few minutes he struck again, and 

 this time rose with a fine fish, which he carried to the 

 shore to devour at leisure. 



For a long time that fish was to me the most puz- 

 zling thing in the whole incident ; for at that season 

 no fish are to be found, except in deep water off shore. 

 Some weeks later I learned that, just previous to the 

 incident, several fishermen's dories, with full fares, had 

 been upset on the east side of the island when trying 

 to land through a heavy surf. The dead fish had 

 been carried around by the tides, and the owl had 

 been deceived into showino; his method of fishino;. 

 Undoubtedly, in his northern home, when the ice 

 breaks up and the salmon are running, he goes fish- 

 ing from an ice cake as a regular occupation. 



The owl lit upon a knoll, not two hundred yards 

 from where I sat motionless, and gave me a good 

 opportunity of watching him at his meal. He treated 

 the fish exactly as he would have treated a rat or duck : 

 stood on it with one foot, gripped the long claws of 

 the other through it, and tore it to pieces savagely, as 

 one would a bit of paper. The beak was not used, 

 except to receive the pieces, which were conveyed up 

 to it by his foot, as a parrot eats. He devoured every- 

 thing — fins, tail, skin, head, and most of the bones, 



