ned quietly at the camp he was not without adventures
to keep him from wearying. While he was singeing his grouse his eye
happened to fall upon the shadow of a bird passing over the snow. On
looking up he saw a very large bird, nearly as big as an eagle, flying
softly about in wide circles. It was of a mottled-brown colour; but its
short neck and great round head told the naturalist at a glance that it
was a bird of the owl genus. It was the largest of the kind that Lucien
had ever seen, and was, in fact, the largest known in America--the
"great cinereous owl." Now and then it would alight upon a rock or tree,
at the distance of an hundred yards or so from the camp; where it would
watch the operations of Lucien, evidently inclined to help him in
dissecting some of the animals. Whenever he took up his gun and tried to
approach within shot, it would rise into the air again, always keeping
out of range. Lucien was provoked at this--for he wished, as a
naturalist, to examine the bird, and for this purpose to kill it, of
course; but the owl seemed determined that he should do no such thing.

At length, however, Lucien resolved upon a plan to decoy the creature
within shot. Taking up one of the grouse, he flung it out upon the snow
some thirty yards from the fire. No sooner had he done so, than the owl,
at sight of the tempting morsel, left aside both its shyness and
prudence, and sailed gently forward; then, hovering for a moment over
the ground, hooked the grouse upon its claws, and was about to carry it
off, when a bullet from Lucien's rifle, just in the "nick of time," put
a stop to its further flight, and dropped the creature dead upon the
snow.

Lucien picked it up and brought it to the camp, where he passed some
time in making notes upon its size, colour, and other peculiarities. The
owl measured exactly two feet in length from the point of the bill to
the end of the tail; and its "alar spread," as naturalists term it, was
full five feet in extent. It was of a clove-brown colour, beautifully
mottled with white, and its bill and eyes were of a bright gamboge
yellow. Like all of its tribe that winter in the Arctic wilds, it was
feathered to the toes. Lucien reflected that this species lives more in
the woods than the "great snowy owl," and, as he had heard, is never
found far out on the Barren Grounds during winter. This fact, therefore,
was a pleasant one to reflect upon, for it confirmed the testimony which
the travel