SNOWY owl 369 



of the two birds are entirely different; the falcon's wings are sharply 

 pointed, its head is smaller, and it is slenderer in every way. There 

 is no other large white bird so heavily built, with such a large rounded 

 head, and such broad white wings as the snowy owl. 



Enemies. — As with most birds of prey, the chief enemy of this owl 

 is man; it is so conspicuous in the open country that it frequents, while 

 with us in winter, that it is relentlessly pursued, as a handsome trophy 

 to have mounted; it is one of the most popular ornaments for store 

 windows and barrooms. Fortunately it is so shy and so hard to kill 

 that many escape. 



Dr. Sutton (1932) says: "The natural enemies of the Snowy Owl 

 are chiefly the Arctic Fox, which steals eggs and young, whenever it 

 can, and the Eskimos, who not only shoot Ookpikjuak for food, but 

 who catch them in traps and gather their eggs in the early spring. 

 About the Post the Husky dogs broke up several nests of Snowy 

 Owls. * * * 



"On February 8 Jack Ford witnessed a remarkable combat between 

 a trapped fox and an owl. The great bird swooped and dashed at the 

 unfortunate animal and tore its face open with its savage beak and 

 claws. The fox was nearly dead when Jack reached the spot." 



A. M. Bailey (1926) says that "Mr. Brower saw two Pomarine 

 Jaegers kill a Snowy Owl this season near her nest. The jaegers 

 swooped upon the flying bird forcing her to the ground and then, with 

 repeated onslaughts from the wing, finally killed the owl." 



Winter. — Although some snowy owls remain all winter in their far 

 northern breeding range as long as they can find sufficient food, there 

 is a general southward movement in fall, which includes a majority 

 of the birds. 



A. L. V. Manniche (1910) says that, in northeast Greenland, "the 

 Snowy Owls appeared most numerously on their autumn migration 

 from the beginning of August till the middle of October." 



Ruthven Deane (1902) quotes the following from a letter from 

 Napoleon A. Comeau: 



Migrations of the Snowy Owl occur almost every year along the north shore of 

 the St. Lawrence River. * * * An abundant food supply seems to be the 

 cause. They generally follow in the track of migration of other birds on which 

 they prey. These are Willow Ptarmigan, the Lesser Auk, and the Murre (Uria 

 lomvia). The big migration of 1876, which you noticed, followed a very large 

 migration of Ptarmigans. During the present winter they have followed on an 

 immense migration of the Lesser Auk and Murre. Some three hundred or so 

 Snowy Owls have been shot and trapped by residents in this immediate vicinity 

 in a section of about nine miles. I have examined the stomachs of over a hundred 

 and have found invariably the remains of the two species above mentioned. The 

 owls in some cases were nothing but a lump of fat. The migration began here on 

 November 25, 1901, when the first were seen, and has continued at intervals to this 

 date [March 11, 1902]. The last birds are seen generally about the beginning of 

 May, when they disappear entirely. This bird flies and preys by day as well as by 



