244 Mr. Thompson on the Snowy Owl. 



singular to me that none of the specimens of the snowy owl 

 obtained in so southern a limit of their flight as England and 

 Ireland, should be in the garb which is described previous to 

 the first moult ; but the plumage exhibited by these Labrador 

 birds satisfies me, that the young of the snowy owl, like the 

 immature individuals of many other species, do scatter them- 

 selves more widely than the adults. 



The bird shot at Scrabo I have no doubt was a nestling in 

 the summer of 1837. The individual figured by Mr. Selby* 

 is also less white than Mr. Langtry's male bird, and if belong- 

 ing to the same sex I should consider it a bird of the first year. 

 Of two other individuals, male and female, recorded by Mr. 

 Selby to have been killed in Northumberland in 1823, the 

 latter was, from the number of black bars and spots, consi- 

 dered by that gentleman to be a young bird, but no opinion 

 on the age of the male is offered ; he is however stated to have 

 been much whiter than the female, a circumstance which, as we 

 have seen, does not militate against his also being a young bird 

 of the year. Of the other specimens killed in England I have 

 not seen such detailed descriptions as enable me to judge of 

 their age from comparison with the Labrador birds ; nor, in 

 consequence of its sex being unknown, can a satisfactory opi- 

 nion be offered on the first snowy owl recorded to have been 

 obtained in Ireland. (Zool. Proc. 1835, p. 78.) Were the 

 sex of the individuals known, we should probably find that the 

 greater number of these noble birds which have wandered to 

 the British Islands have been the young in the plumage of the 

 first year. 



It is thought desirable to add the following notice of the 

 habits of these owls reared from the nest, as compared chiefly 

 with those of Dr. Neill's birdf, procured when full grown. 

 The male and one female specimen now in Mr. Langtry^s 

 possession are wild, and sometimes fast for one or two days 

 though food is within their reach. They are chiefly fed on the 

 heads of poultry, wild fowl, and rabbits, but mice and rats are 

 preferred, as are also sea gulls ; from these birds no feathers 

 have to be plucked, as the owls very efficiently render this 



* 111. Brit. Orn. pi. 23. 



f See Naturalist's Library : British Birds, Part I. p. 307. 



