4 
NOTES ON BIRDS IN CONFINEMENT. 
Nyctea nyctea. 
Hawk, advanced, slowly and stealthily, crouching so low that 
his belly brushed the floor, his glaring eyes, his bristling 
plumage, his whole attitude expressing intense yet sullen 
and suppressed rage. When near Aurora he stopped and the 
two faced one another precisely like a pair of gaieifi cpcke 
their bills less than two inches apart. For a half minute 
they stood thus, both oscillating their heads, every feath- 
er of their bodies straightened. Then both birds snapped 
.their bills simultaneously and rapidly, making a rattling 
volley like that of castenets, and the next mom ent they 
closed. Nor at least a minute I could make out nothing but 
a heap of feathers rolling over and over with four wings 
waving in the air or beating the floor. There was some fur- 
ther clicking of bills, but no vocal sounds. At length the 
compatants parted and Aurora, dignified, impassive Aurora, 
skulked off into a corner and cowered down with every ap- 
pearance of abject fear. She still had the Sparrow, how- 
ever, and must have held it fast during the entire battle. 
As Boreas , after looking for it on the floor, again advanced, 
Aurora turned tail and ran to another corner, carrying the 
Sparrow in her bill and making desperate efforts to swallow 
it whole. Finally succeeding in this, she atn once faced a- 
bout and assumed her usual erect position regarding with 
calm indifference the still excited Boreas who, unaware that 
the prize had escaped him ambled about her with ludicrous 
solicitude peeping in under the loose plumage that half con- 
cealed her feet, and occasionally peeking at the fatter. He 
soon became satisfied that there was no longer any hope, 
however, and gave up annoying her. This is the first oc- 
casion when I have heard either of these 0 wls snap their 
bills. 
During the "stalk” and afterwards when the wto 
great white birds stood facing one another, the^ spectacle 
they presented was highly dramatic, in fact actually thril- 
ling. There was something devilish in the glare of the big 
yellow eyes, and the expression of the lowered heads and 
crouching forms. I was conscious of a creeping sensation in 
the neighborhood of my spine and of holding my breath for 
seconds at a time as I watched them. The battle, however, 
was a bloodless squabble and its denouement i little shbrctfof 
absurd. After it was over and the Sparrow eaten, I threw in 
a mouse with a thread fastened to the head and drew it past 
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