4J0 SYRNIA NYCTEA. 



ings large, and the bars on the lower parts distinct. But I atn 

 not aware of any other differences in adults, excepting the tint 

 of the markings, which varies from light to dark brown. The 

 bands on the middle tail-feathers are sometimes continuous or 

 direct across both webs, and sometimes alternate. 



Habits. — It appears that the only part of Britain which can 

 lay claim to this species as a permanent inhabitant, is Shet- 

 land, where, however, it is not numerous, although several 

 specimens have been obtained. It has also been more than 

 once procured in Orkney. In the spring of 1833, after a severe 

 gale from the north, an individual was wounded and caught 

 on the Culbin Sands, near the mouth of the river Findhorn, 

 my authority for which fact is the Rev. Mv Gordon of Birnie. 

 Mr Selby states that in the latter part of January 1833, during 

 a severe snow-storm, two individuals, a male and a female, 

 were killed near Rothbury in Northumberland. JMr Denny 

 states that on the 13th of February 1836, a male was shot 

 three miles below Selby-on-the-Moor, in Yorkshire. It is re- 

 markable that no instances are recorded of its having been met 

 with on our western coasts, although specimens have been ob- 

 tained in various parts of Ireland. 



As a British species, the Snowy Owl was first described in 

 1812, by Mr Bullock, who met with it in the course of a tour 

 through Orkney and Shetland. But, as will presently be seen, 

 it had previously been found by Dr Laurence Edmondston, of 

 Shetland, who in 1822 published a detailed account of its 

 habits in the Transactions of the Wernerian Society of Edin- 

 burgh. That gentleman being the only person who has re- 

 corded observations made upon it in this country, an extract 

 from his paper cannot fail to be interesting. 



" Its form and manner are highly elegant ; its flight less 

 buoyant, and more rapid, than that of the other owls ; and the 

 superior boldness and activit}^ of its disposition, the uncommon 

 size of its talons, and vigour of its limbs, secure it against dan- 

 ger from feathered enemies. It affects solitary, stony, and ele- 

 vated districts, which, by the similarity to it in colour of the 

 rocks, render it diflicult to be discovered, and by the inequali- 



