SNOW OWL. 
83 
tlie eye, very cliffei'ent from that of any other of the genus ; general 
color of the body white, marked with lunated spots of pale brown above, 
and with semicircular dashes below ; femoral feathers long, and legs 
covered, even over the claws, with long shaggy hair-like down, of a dirty 
"white ; the claws, when exposed, appear large, much hooked, of a black 
color, and extremely sharp pointed ; back white, tail rounded at the 
end, white, slightly dotted with pale brown near the tips ; wings, when 
closed, reach near the extremity of the tail ; vent feathers large, strong 
shafted, and extending also to the point of the tail ; upper part of the 
breast and belly plain white ; body very broad and flat. 
The female, which measures two feet in length, and five feet two inches 
in extent, is covered more thickly with spots of a much darker color 
than those on the male ; the chin, throat, face, belly and vent, are 
white ; femoral feathers white, long and shaggy, marked with a few 
heart-shaped spots of brown ; legs also covered to the claws with long 
white hairy down ; rest of the pluuuxge white, every feather spotted or 
barred with dark brown, largest on the wing quills, where they are about 
two inches apart ; fore part of the crown thickly marked with roundish 
black spots ; tail crossed Avith liands of broad brownish spots ; shafts of 
all the j^lumage white ; bill and claws, as in the male, black ; third and 
fourth wing cjuill the longest, span of the foot four inches. 
From the various individuals of these birds which I have examined, 
I have reason to believe that the male alone approaches nearly to white 
in his plumage, the female rarely or never. The bird from which the 
figure in the plate was drawn, was killed at Egg Harbor, New Jersey, 
in the month of December. The conformation of the eye of this bird 
forms a curious and interesting subject to the young anatomist. The 
globe of the eye is immovably fixed in its socket, by a strong, elastic, 
hard, cartilaginous case, in form of a truncated cone ; this case being 
closely covered with a sldn, appears at first to be of one continued 
piece ; but on removing the exterior membrane it is found to be formed 
of fifteen pieces, placed like the staves of a cask, overlapping a little 
at the base or narrow end, and seem as if capable of being enlarged 
or contracted, perhaps by the muscular membrane with which they are 
encased. In five other different species of Owls, which I have since 
examined, I found nearly the same conformation of this organ, and 
exactly the same number of staves. The eye being thus fixed, these 
birds, as they view different objects, are ahvays obliged to turn the head ; 
and nature has so excellently adapted their neck to this purpose, that 
they can, Avith ease, turn it round, without moving the body, in almost 
a complete circle. 
