Mr. Thompson on the Snowy Owl. 243 



when the vessel came near soundings, they were supplied with 

 sea-gulls caught upon baited hooks. An examination of these 

 individuals has enabled me to correct an error which appears 

 in some of the best ornithological works respecting the plu- 

 mage of the snowy owl in the first year. This error seems in 

 part, at least, to have originated with Bullock, who states, but 

 not from personal observation, that the young birds which are 

 seen in the Shetland Islands flying about with their parents 

 are brown at the end of summer. Temminck also remarks, 

 that K les jeunes, au sortir du nid, sont couverts d^un duvet 

 brun ; les premieres plumes sont aussi d*un brun clair*." 

 Audubon observes, " I have shot specimens, which were, as I 

 thought, so young as to be nearly of a uniform light brown 

 tint, and which puzzled me for several years, as I had at first 

 conceived them to be of a different species f." On arrival, 

 when they were in good condition, the birds under consider- 

 ation were as follows : One much smaller than the others, 

 and presumed to be a male, was considerably whiter than the 

 specimen shot in a wild state, and whose plumage has just 

 been described, but displayed two markings which the other 

 does not possess ; the back of the head where it joins the body 

 being blackish brown, and another patch of this colour on the 

 body just before the carpal joint of the wing. The supposed 

 females, which are much larger than the last-mentioned, 

 differ exceedingly from it in markings. They have the facial 

 plumage or that within the disk, the throat, body beneath the 

 wings, under surface of the latter, and the legs and toes pure 

 white. The plumage of the head from the disk posteriorly, 

 back, upper side of wings, and whole under plumage between 

 the folded wings presents as much of a blackish brown colour 

 as of white, the former being disposed in the same manner as 

 described in the specimen with which this communication 

 is commenced ; but the bars and other dark markings are so 

 broad as to occupy equal space with the white or "ground" 

 colour. 



As immature, and especially the young birds of the year, 

 generally wander further than those which have attained ma- 

 turity from their native domicile, it has hitherto appeared 



* Man. Orn. Eur. t. i. p. 82. t Orn. Biog. vol. ii. p. 136. 



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