The air was mottled with pine-tassels and bright green plumes, that went flashing past in the sunlight like birds pursued.

I gazed intently, and, following the spray into the shadow, I saw something liquid and mottled like a toad's skin.

He was mottled on the back and wings with buff and black, had on a white cravat, and his vest was barred with black, white, and buff; his sharp black talons were almost hidden by feathers, but not so much so as the Snowy Owl's.