SNOWY OWL. 415 



protective type of coloration, the eagle-owl haunting the woods, 

 whereas the snowy owl frequents the open country, and in Siberia is 

 found on the open tundra beyond the forest-zone, where the dark- 

 coloured species is unknown. 



The distribution of the snowy owl is circumpolar, and in Grinnell- 

 land, where it arrives in the latter part of March and remains till the 

 end of August, the species has been found nesting so far north as 

 latitude 82' 32'. In Lapland it breeds commonly, as it does in 

 Novaia Zemlia, but to Iceland, the Farces, and Spitzbergen it is 

 only a straggler, as it is to the British Islands and a large part 

 of northern and central continental Europe. There are, indeed, 

 reports as to the former nesting of the snowy owl in Orkney, 

 Shetland, and the Hebrides, but these do not appear to be definitely 

 established. To the Outer Hebrides, as well as the more northerh' 

 British Islands, the species is a b}- no means uncommon visitor, 

 generally making its appearance during the autumn and winter 

 months. Apart from the visitors to the above-named islands, specimens 

 have been recorded in Scotland from Sutherland, Ayrshire, Caithness, 

 and Inverness-shire, and in England from Northumberland, Yorkshire, 

 Norfolk, Suffolk, Devon, and Cornwall, Norfolk claiming no less than 

 seven up to the year 1900. In Ireland up to the same date there are 

 about thirty records, mostly from November to March, although one 

 case occurred in April. Among recent occurrences, it may be 

 mentioned that one specimen was taken in Norfolk in April 1905, 

 and a second in Shetland in November of the same year. 



Lemmings constitute a large proportion of the food of the snowy 

 owl, which follows these rodents in considerable numbers during 

 their periodical migrations. Larger creatures, such as Arctic hares, 

 ptarmigan, grouse, ducks and other water-fowl, as well as an occasional 

 fish, are, however, captured and devoured. As a rule, the snowy owl 

 is a silent bird, but it sometimes utters a kind of harsh croak when 

 on the wing. As the lands where it chieflx' breeds have practically no 

 night in summer, the species is of necessity to a great extent diurnal 

 in its habits. A hollow in the bare ground or amid the tall moss 

 covering so much of the Siberian tundra, serves, with the aid of a 

 little moss or lichen and a few feathers as lining, the purpose of a nest, 

 in which are laid from six to eight, or even more, creamy-white eggs, 

 of a somewhat more elongated shape than those of the eagle-owl. As 

 is so commonly the case among owls, the eggs of a clutch are laid at 

 considerable intervals, so that young and eggs may be found together 

 in the same nest. Beyond the forest-zone these owls pass the time of 



