58 STRIGIDJE. 



the spot. It also catches fish, and watches the traps set 

 for musk-rats, devouring the animals caught in them. 



Little appears to be known about its nest or eggs ; and 

 not much more about its note, which is said by one author 

 to resemble the grunting of pigs ; and by another, the 

 lamentations of a person in distress. In the year 1845, 

 a party of fishermen, belonging to Cullen, in Banffshire, 

 observed a Snowy Owl enter a chasm in the cliff, and 

 climbed up. The most venturesome of the party, scrambling 

 into the hole, discovered two old birds and two young 

 ones, all of which, with some personal risk, he either 

 killed or captured. This appears to be the only authentic 

 evidence on record of their breeding in Great Britain. 

 The plumage is exceedingly beautiful ; pure white, spotted 

 and barred with brownish black. In younger birds, there 

 is a greater proportion of dark markings, while, in very old 

 birds, the spots are either small or entirely obliterated. 



THE HAWK OWL. 



SURNIA FUNl'rEA. 



Head, back of the neck, and shoulders, mottled with dusky black and dull white ; 

 fece bounded by a black, crescent-shaped band ; back and wings dark brown, 

 barred with dull white ; tail barred with .dull white ; under parts dull white, 

 barred with dusky brown ; beak white ; irides straw yellow ; tarsi and toes 

 covered with greyish white feathers. Length seventeen inches. Eggs Avhite. 



Of this species a single specimen only has been observed 

 in, or rather on, the coast of England, and this is the sole 

 claim which the Hawk Owl can put forward to be con- 

 sidered a British bird. It occurs, but rarely, in the north 

 of Germany, and then only in the great forests or among 

 the mountains. In America it is found in the high north- 

 ern latitudes, and is common throughout the fur countries, 

 from Hudson's Bay to the Pacific, and is more frequently 

 killed than any other by the himters, owing to its bold- 



