248 CROSS-CUT VIEWS OF WINTER. 



of this noiseless flier with that of the grouse, which 

 perhaps is the loudest of all the birds .in flight. Nat- 

 ure has performed a better and more finished piece of 

 work for the owl. One is a short, clumsy cutlass, 

 beside the long keen pliant rapier. How carefully 

 she has lapped the broad primary quills over each 

 other, " so that no accident or pressure of wind may 

 leave a gap anywhere," while those of the grouse 

 are so loosely overlaid that one viewing the wing 

 edgewise can see between each feather. The shafts 

 in the raptor are more flexible, and the lateral 

 filaments or lamince are softer than those of the 

 scratcher. The rounded downy tips of the first 

 wing-quills are particularly noticeable. Even the 

 narrow sides of the first two primaries are emargi- 

 nate or edged with short segments, like the teeth 

 of a comb, so precise has the old Dame been in 

 making this wing suitable to perform the duty for 

 which it was intended. 



But the Februaiy heavens are not niggardly of 

 their snows, and usually before they pass away, a 

 good full share is sifted down to us. Sometimes 

 the meshes of the sieve are small, and the bounti- 

 ful suppy of crystal grains are as fine as sand. 

 Sometimes the air-fairies belabor the earth with 

 little woolly pellets, or shoot from their tiny bows 



