12') • BTTBO^nD^. 



Noctua nvctea, Boic, Isis, 1822, p. 770 ; Li'ss. Traite, p. 101 ; ScJil. 



3Ius. P.-B. Stri^'es, p. 43 (1862)._ _ 

 Nyctea erniiiiea, Stcph. Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. 2, p. 63. 

 SjTuium nyctea, Kaup, Katiirl. Si/st. p. 59. 

 Surnia nvctea, James, ed. Wih. Am. Orn. i. p. 92 ; Selbi/, III. Brit. 



Orn. i.'p. 95, pi. 23 ; Gould, B. Eur. i. pi. 43 ; Kei/s. ^- Bias. Wirh. 



Eur. p. xxxiii ; A'«m;j, Tr. Z. S. iv. p. 214 ; Hcicifs. Eggs Br. B. 



i. p. 64, pi. xviii. fig. 3; Neict. in Baring-Gould, Iceland, p. 408; 



Degl. ^- Gerhe, Orn. Eur. i. p. 118. 

 Nyctia Candida, Swains. Classif. B. ii. p. 217. 

 Nyctea Candida, Bp. Comp. List B. Eur. df N. Am. p. 6 ; id. Consp. 



Av. i. p. 36. 

 Syrnia nyctea, Thnmps. Ann. Nat. H. i. p. 241 ; Blacqill. Hist. Br. B. 



iii. p. 407. 

 Nyctea nivea, Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 34, pi. 12. fig. 2 ; Cai^s. B. Calif. 



p. 190; Strickl.'Om. Syn. p. 194; Fritsch, Voff. Eur. Taf. 12. 



fig. 4; Cass. B. N. Am. p. 63; A'^ewt. P. Z. S. 1861, p. 394; id. 



Ooth. Wollerj. p. 178 ; Goidd, B. Gt. Br. i. pi. xxxiv. ; Coucs, Key 



N. Am. B. p. 205. 

 Nyctea nyctea, Kaup, Contr. Orn. 1852, p. 107. 

 Nyctea nivea europa;a, A. Brehm, Verz. Samml. C. L. Brehm, p. 2. 

 Nyctea nivea americana, A. Brehm, I. c. p. 2. 

 Leucliybris nyctea, Sundev. Av. Meth. Tent. p. 106. 

 Nyctea scandi ica. Newt. ed. Yurr. Brit. B. i. p. 187; Dresser, B. 



Eur. part xxiii. ; Coues, B. N. W. p. 309. 

 Nyctea scandiaca, var. arctica, Ridgic. B. N. Am. iii. p. 70. 



Nestling. Covered with down of a sooty brown colour, very dense 

 in character on the head and neck, where the downy plumelets have 

 a whitish tip ; lores and feathers in front of the eye white, dusky 

 brown at tip, the ear-coverts more or less white at base ; all the 

 feathers, as far as developed, pure white, the least wing-coverts 

 barred with blackish ; greater wing-coverts and quills pure white, 

 spotted on the outer web, and barred on the inner one with blackish, 

 with here and there a faint indication of dusky freckling, increasing 

 on the innermost secondaries, where the interspaces are entirely 

 clouded with dusky brown, as also are the scapulars, many of which 

 are entirely dusky or greyish brown ; round the hind neck the 

 feathers are white, barred across with black, as also are those which 

 are appearing on the breast, though here the dark bars are narrower ; 

 tail pure white, the developing feathers mostly unspotted, but on 

 the centre ones are remains of indistinct bars of black. 



Adult male (Upland, Sweden, Nov. 18th, 1872). Absolutely 

 snowy white above and below, with only a few remains of longitu- 

 dinal brown spots on the hinder part of the crown and on the wing- 

 coverts, the quills with also a few remains of bars ; tail pure white, 

 with a small brown spot remaining near the tip of the centre 

 feathers ; bill and claws blackish horn-colour ; iris deep yellow. 

 Total length 23 inches, wing 16'7, tail 9-6, tarsus about 2-1. 



Female. Total length 26 inches, wing 18-3, tail 10, tarsus 

 about 2-5. 



Immature male in second yea/ s plumage (Upland, Jan. 7th, 1872). 

 General colour above pure white, the head almost immaculate, and 

 only showing one or two dusky brown markings, the hind neck with 



