OWLS. 177 
to spring up in the fiercest manner, and offer a most 
desperate resistance. 
There are upwards of sixty species of Owls, 
widely spread oyer 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 
( $ trice nyctea ), which may fairly, from its size and 
noble appearance, be called the Golden Eagle, 
or very king of Owls. It is a rare visitant, in- 
deed, 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 in- 
hospitable regions, the temperature of the air is 
little above the freezing-point, and during the re- 
mainder 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; but as it is, it has 
nothing to fear ; for, with the exception of the tip of 
its beak, and the extremities of its long black claws, 
no part is exposed. And again, were it not for its 
colour, which renders it almost invisible, as it 
silently skims over the snowy plains, the hares and 
other animals on which it preys would see its ap- 
proach, and be prepared for escape. 
Of course, the habits of a bird so seldom coming 
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