O. NTCTEA. 127 



a larger number of brown-barred feathers ; back and wing-coverts 

 transversely barred with pale dusky brown, less distinctly charac- 

 terized on the primary and outermost greater coverts ; quills pure 

 wliite, with a few more or less distinct spots of pale brown on the 

 outer web, the inner web of the longest primaries having also some 

 brown bars near the tip of the inner webs, the innermost secon- 

 daries obscm-ely clouded with pale brown, the cross bars verj- in- 

 distinct on all of these ; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts 

 piire white, with here and there remains of pale brown cross mark- 

 ings, more distinct on the tail-coverts ; tail itself pure white, the 

 two outer feathers on each side unspotted, the rest having three 

 rows of bro^vn markings near the tips ; forehead and entii-e face and 

 throat i)ure unspotted white ; rest of under surface of body white, 

 narrowly barred with dusky brovm, these bars narrowing on the 

 lower parts of the body, and being absent on the under tail-covcrts 

 and leg-feathers, the plumes on the latter completely hiding the 

 entire foot, and even the nails ; under wing-coverts pure white, as 

 also is the inner lining of the quills, with the exception of a few 

 dusky brown spots near the tips. Total length 20-5 inches, wing 

 16-7, tail 9-1, tarsus about 2-35. 



_ 06s. Mr. Eidgway, in the third volume of the ' North-American 

 Birds' (p. 61), wishes to separate the Snowy Owl into two races or 

 " varieties," peculiar to the Old and New World respectively. The 

 Palasarctic species he calls N!/ctea scandiaca, var. scandiaca (vel nivea); 

 and the Nearctic bird is separated as N. scandiaca, var. arcfica. The 

 characters which he gives for separating them are the narrowness 

 and darker brown shade of the bars in the American Snowy Owl. 

 But this I cannot see ; for on comparing a specimen from Norway 

 with one from Labrador, there is no perceptible difference in the 

 barring of the plumage. Adult birds are very similar ; for I have 

 before me perfectly white examples both from Sweden and from 

 North America. 1 therefore do not agree with Mr. Eidgway in this 

 separation into two races ; and I believe that we have in the Snowy 

 Owl an analogous case to the Greenland Jerfalcon (Hierofalco can- 

 dicaiis), and that the differences of plumage can be accounted for by 

 the age of the bird. The j-oung birds are strongly barred ; and these 

 bars disappear as the individuals advance in age. The females seem 

 never to get as free from transverse markings as the males ; and I 

 am entirely able to agree with Mr. Dresser on this point (B. of Eur. 

 part xxiii.) ; or, at all events, if they ever become pure white, they 

 take a longer time to lose the baiTcd plumage ; and in numerous 

 other families of birds this is also known to be the case. At the 

 same time I find a difference in the Snowy Owls of Europe and 

 North America which seems to have escaped Mr. Eidgway's notice : 

 this consists in the much greater amount of feathering of the 

 toes in the European bird, the plumes completely hiding toe and 

 nail, whereas in the American bird the nails alwaj-s, and even the 

 final joint of the toe occasionally, may be clearly seen. The follow- 

 ing are the measurements of the Museum series : — 



