2 94 SNOWY OWL. 



To the Faeroes, Iceland and Spitsbergen, the Snowy Owl is only 

 a straggler ; but it is common and partially resident on Novaya 

 Zemlya, Waigatz, and throughout the Kola Peninsula. On the fells 

 of Norway and Sweden it follows the lemmings on their migra- 

 tions, and of late years has been found breeding in many places 

 where it had previously been unnoticed. In Russia it inhabits the 

 tundras; nesting, exceptionally, down to the Governments of St. 

 Petersburg and Livonia ; and in winter it is distributed over the 

 whole country down to the Caspian and the Sea of Azov. As 

 regards the western half of Europe, it visits Pomerania, the north of 

 Germany, and Denmark, in some numbers during cold weather ; 

 while its wanderings have extended to Holland, France, and 

 Lower Austria. In Asia, it is found across Northern Siberia in 

 summer, and in winter an example has been obtained at Murdan 

 in the Indus valley. On the American continent it breeds on the 

 barren-grounds and the verge of the wooded districts, from Alaska 

 to Labrador ; also in Greenland, where^or, strictly speaking, in 

 Grinnell-Land — Col. H. W. Feilden found it nesting as far north as 

 ^2° 33', though it abandoned those high latitudes at the end of 

 August, reappearing on March 29th. In winter it has occurred as 

 far south as Texas, and in the Bermudas ; while a flock has been 

 known to perch on the spars of a vessel and accompany it from 

 Labrador half way across the Atlantic towards Ireland. 



The Snowy Owl deposits its eggs on the bare ground or in a 

 mere hollow scraped in the reindeer-moss, generally on some slight 

 eminence. The eggs are often laid in pairs and at intervals, and 

 10 have been found together ; they are, like most Owls' eggs, 

 white, but rather more elongated than usual : average measure- 

 ments 2 '3 by 175 in. Prof. CoUett says that the female and 

 young are fed by the male, which exhibits great boldness and even 

 ferocity when the nesting-place is approached. The food consists of 

 lemmings and other rodents, Arctic hares. Ptarmigan and Willow- 

 Grouse — wounded birds being often picked lip before the sportsman 

 can reach them ; carrion is also eaten, and the bird is an expert 

 catcher of fish. Its own flesh is highly esteemed by the inhabitants 

 of the Arctic regions. The cry is a loud and repeated krau-au. 



The plumage of the Snowy Owl is white, barred and spotted with 

 an amount of black or dark brown which varies greatly in different 

 individuals ; it is said that the female is more profusely marked 

 than the male, and she is certainly much larger. Small but almost 

 invisible tufts exist ; there is no operculum ; bill black ; iris orange- 

 yellow. Length from 22 to 27 in. 



