1880. } Some Noteworthy Birds. 715 
SOME NOTEWORTHY BIRDS. 
BY SAMUEL LOCKWOOD, PH.D. 
HAT was a memorable event in the annals of bird lore when 
those Arctic owls made their remarkable raid upon us in our 
centennial year. What it was that induced Myctea nivea to make 
that visit in such numbers after the big show was closed, and the 
world’s folk had left, may be a question. Probably the commis- 
sariat was under consideration ; in which case our snowy owl had 
grave reasons for his coming. Winter is hardly a prime season 
for delitacies in the larval line, and the construction may seem 
awkward, yet it will bear assertion that these birds of Pallas were 
after grub. Though bold, Nyctea did not put on style. It was 
simply that sort of personal bearing which comes of innocence. 
In the Northern cities he even perched on chimney tops, and in 
rural places was familiar with men, even unto rashness. Our 
farmer friend, his family filling the large carry-all wagon, was on 
his way to church, when lo! by the road side, “a sitting on a 
rail,” was one of these Arctic owls. No man is himself at all 
times, and our good friend’s piety was sorely tried, for the strange 
bird actually ogled at him with its big brass-button eyes. He 
would have railed at the bird. He was on the fence what to do. 
It is Sunday. “Shall he send Thomas back for the gun? The 
wife suggests they’ll be late to meetin’. The bird owes his life to 
that good woman. In the markets of New York these owls were 
Suspended in strings like poultry. Upon inquiry, Terence was 
told that they were Spanish geese. “Sure then, for a goose, it 
has an uncommon knowing face.” To many a village “ bird- 
stuffer” in the Eastern States, that winter of ’76 brought a large 
` increase of business. In not a few parlors of my acquaintance, a 
Snowy owl became a fixture, and was pointed to as an avian prize. 
But our splendid bird has become unable ‘to uphold its reputa- 
- tion. The tidy housewife charges it with bringing in that tiny 
reprobate, the clothes moth, Tinea flavifrontella, it of the yellow 
face, which after plucking Nivea in spots, finishes on the rep 
upholstery, A young friend captured one of these Arctic 
raiders alive. So long as he was well supplied with mice, the bird 
was quite good natured, and even submitted to the caresses of 
his master; but the young man found the demands of that hun- 
Sty maw very exacting; in fact that owlish stomach was too 
