178 BRITISH BIRDS. 
at least in Yorkshire, eight or nine times in Norfolk, and once in Suffolk. 
In Ireland its recorded occurrences are almost as numerous, and it has 
been met with in most counties, except in the extreme west. 
The Snowy Owl is a circumpolar bird, breeding principally within the 
Arctic circle. It is common in some parts of Greenland, and was found 
breeding in Grinnell Land by Capt. Feilden, as far north as lat. 82° 33’. 
It is found in Iceland usually during winter, more rarely in summer, and 
has been found several times on the Faroes. It breeds throughout 
Northern Europe, including Nova Zembla, but in Spitzbergen is said only 
to occur as an occasional straggler. In winter it accidentally strays as 
far south as Holland and Belgium, and has once occurred in Northern 
France. In Pomerania it occurred in considerable numbers during the 
winters of 1858-59 and 1865-66 ; and, on the authority of von Pelzeln, 
it has once occurred in Lower Austria. In Asia it is an inhabitant of 
the northern portions of the continent, sometimes straying in winter as 
far south as South Siberia, Turkestan, Afghanistan, and Mongolia. On the 
American continent the Snowy Owl breeds in the extreme north, straggling 
south in winter to almost all parts of the States, and has more than once 
been observed in the Bermudas. It has been known to occur as far south 
as Texas, where a single specimen was obtained by Dr. Heermann. 
Ridgway, in the third volume of the ‘ North American- Birds,’ separates 
the Snowy Owl into two races, one inhabiting the Old and the other the New 
World. The character by which these two races are distinguished is said 
to be the dusky bars, which in the Palearctic species are “ sparse, narrow, 
and umber-brown,” and in the Nearctic species “‘ more numerous, broader, 
and clear brownish black.” These differences, however, are probably due 
to individual variation ; for birds from Europe are found to match exactly 
birds from the American continent. Sharpe, in his ‘ Catalogue of Birds,’ 
vol. ii. p. 127, points out that the amount of feathering on the toes of 
European birds is much greater than on American specimens ; but this is 
probably due to a seasonal change, as is the case with the Willow-Grouse. 
Some writers have supposed that the white birds are the old and the 
more spotted birds the young; but what little evidence there is points 
to the existence of two races of Snowy Owls, a white race and a dark 
race, which alter little with age. Young in first plumage are said to show 
quite as marked a variation as adults; and birds kept in confinement are 
said to retain the original character of their plumage year after year, 
though the dark markings do to some extent decrease in size and number 
with age. 
The Snowy Owl is a bird of the tundra; and its home is on the fjelds of 
Lapland, the tundras of Russia and Siberia, and the prairies of Arctic 
America. Although its breeding-range extends over nearly twenty 
degrees of latitude, its nest is never found within the limit of forest-growth. 
