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This bird is an inhabitant of Germany, France, Denmark, 
Norway, Sweden, Lapland, Russia, and other parts of Northern 
Europe. Itis very rare in England. It is plentiful in all the 
high latitudes of North America. This bird frequents small 
woods. The nest is built in a tree, and consists of sticks, grass 
and feathers. The eggs are white, and two in number. The 
general colour of this bird is dark spotted brown above, and striped 
white below. Its food consists of rats and mice, partridges and 
other birds, and insects. In winter it makes great havoc among 
the flocks of ptarmigans. It is a very bold bird, and has been 
known to pounce upon and carry away wounded game that had 
fallen before the sportsman’s gun. Although so bold and so 
successful a hunter, the Hawk Owl is by no means a large bird, 
being only from fifteen to seventeen inches in length. The 
flight of the Hawk Owl is rather slow ; at times it mounts to a 
considerable height; and it roosts sometimes on the ground in 
marshy situations, as do the Harriers. The note of this bird is 
said to resemble that of the Kestrel, which is clear, shrill, and 
rather ioud. 
The Snowy Owl is one of the handsomest of this group, not so 
much on account of its dimensions, but by reason of the beautiful 
white plumage with which it is clothed, and the large orange 
eyeballs which shine with a lustre as of a topaz set among the 
snowy plumage. The Snowy Owl may derive its name either 
from the colour of its plumage or the snow-covered regions which 
are its natural residence. It inhabits the Arctic parts of Europe, 
Asia and America; from these it advances more or less towards 
the south. In Europe it occurs in abundance in Kamtschatka 
and Siberia; in considerable numbers in Russia, Lapland, 
Norway and Sweden. This splendid Owl has been one of the 
oldest inhabitants of the Orkney and Shetland Islands. It has 
been killed in Northumberland, Norfolk, Kent, Dorsetshire, 
Cornwall and Suffolk. One was shot at Caithness, in stormy 
snowy weather, with a duck in its talons, which it had carried 
