Genus III. STRIX. OWL. 

 Species I. STRIX NYCTEA. 



SNOW OWL. 



[Plate XXXII. Fig. 1— Male.] 



Latham i., 132, No. 17.— Buffon i., i?,!.— Great White Owl, Edw. CiX.—Snotcy 

 Owl, Arct. Zool. 233, No. 121.* 



The Snow Owl represented in the plate, is reduced to half its natural 

 size. To preserve the apparent magnitude, the other accompanying 

 figures are drawn by the same scale. 



This great northern hunter inhabits the coldest and most dreary 

 regions of the northern hemisphere, in both continents. The forlorn 

 mountains of Greenland, covered with eternal ice and snows, where, for 

 nearly half the year, the silence of death and desolation might almost 

 be expected to reign, furnish food and shelter to this hardy adventurer ; 

 whence he is only driven by the extreme severity of weather towards 

 the seashore. He is found in Lapland, Norway, and the country near 

 Hudson's Bay, during the whole year ; is said to be common in Siberia, 

 and numerous in Kamtschatka. He is often seen in Canada, and the 

 northern districts of the United States ; and sometimes extends his visits 

 to the borders of Florida. Nature, ever provident, has so effectually 

 secured this bird from the attacks of cold, that not even a point is left 

 exposed. The bill is almost completely hid among a mass of feathers, 

 that cover the face ; the legs are clothed with such an exuberance of long 

 thick hair-like plumage, as to appear nearly as large as those of a mid- 

 dle sized dog, nothing being visible but the claws, which are large, black, 

 much hooked, and extremely sharp. The whole plumage, below the sur- 

 face, is of the most exquisitely soft, warm, and elastic kind ; and so 

 closely matted together, as to make it a diiBcult matter to penetrate to 

 the skin. 



The usual food of this species is said to be hares, grouse, rabbits, ducks, 

 mice, and even carrion. Unlike most of his tribe, he hunts by day as 

 well as by twilight, and is particularly fond of frequenting the shores 

 and banks of shallow rivers, over the surface of which he slowly sails, 

 or sits on a rock, a little raised above the water, watching for fish. 



* We add the following synonymes: Strix nyctea, Linn. Syst. ed. 10, i., p. 93. — 

 Gmel. Syst. 1., p. 291. — Lath. lad. Orn. p. 57. — Strix Candida, Id. Sup. 2, p. 14. — 

 ViEiL. Ois. de I'Am. Sept. i., pi. 18. — Temm. Man. d' Orn. i., p. 82. 



Vol. I.— 6 (81) 



