112 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF 



Family STRIGID^. Genus Nyctea. 



Sub-family BUBONINM. 



SNOWY OWL. 



Nyctea nyctea {Lt7i?iceus). 



(British : Fairly regular nomadic autumn migrant.) 



Single Brooded. Laying season, end of May or in June. 



Breeding area : Northern Nearctic and Palaearctic 

 regions. The Snowy Owl is principally confined during 

 the breeding season to the. country north of the Arctic 

 circle. It breeds on the fells of Norway and Sweden, in 

 Lapland, North Russia, and Nova Zembla. Eastwards 

 in Asia it breeds on the tundras in the most northerly 

 parts of Siberia to the Pacific. In the New World it is 

 only known to breed in the extreme north from Alaska 

 to Labrador, and northwards to Grinnell Land, where it 

 was observed nesting by Col. Feilden in lat. 82|°. 



Breeding habits : The Snowy Owl wanders little 

 from its home during winter, retiring perhaps as far 

 south as the forests, but returning with the advent of 

 summer. Its only breeding haunts are the fells and 

 tundras and barren grounds that stretch from the limits 

 of forest growth northwards to the coasts and islands of 

 the Arctic Sea. It is not in the usual sense a gregarious 

 bird, living for the most part solitary, except during the 

 short period of the breeding season ; but flocks of this 

 Owl have from time to time been met with far at sea. 

 Of the pairing habits of this Owl nothing is recorded. 

 It probably mates for life, but the two birds only live in 

 close companionship during reproduction. The nest of 

 the Snowy Owl is either placed on the ground, or on a 

 ledge of a cliff, either overlooking a river or the sea, or 

 on some slight mound on the tundra. It is merely a 



