148 
OWLS. 
the opening or shutting of the mandibles can he observed. 
As it is a bird of courage, the sportsman must he cautious 
how he attempts to handle it, for it has been known to 
spring up in the fiercest manner, and offer a most desperate 
resistance. 
Eye and Bill of Owl. Head of Long-eared Owl 
There are upwards of sixty species of Owls, widely spread 
over almost every part of the known world : of these, we 
may count not fewer than eight as more or less frequenting 
this country ; of which by far the most beautiful is the great 
Snowy Owl (Strix nyctea), which may fairly, from its size 
and noble appearance, he called the Golden Eagle, or very 
king of Owls. It is a rare visitant, indeed, in England, 
chiefly confining itself to the wildest and most desolate regions 
of the north, where amidst almost perpetual snows, it passes 
its solitary life. When in perfection, its plumage is of the 
most dazzling snowy white, with a few darker spots, chiefly 
about the head. Its thick feathery coating is most admirably 
adapted for the countries in which nature has appointed it to 
live. 
During the three summer months in those inhospitable 
regions, the temperature of the air is little above the freezing- 
point, and during the remainder of the year far below it : 
were it not, therefore, for the mass of thick down and feathers 
in which its body is shrouded, it must soon perish under the 
intensity of cold ; hut as it is, it has nothing to fear ; for 
with the exception of the tip of its beak and the extremities 
