THE SNOWY OWL. 483 
Recognition Marks.—Large size (Brant size); snowy white with dusky 
bars; no ear-tufts. 
Nesting.—Does not breed in Washington. Nest: on the ground. Eggs: 
3-10, white. Av. size, 2.24x1.77 (56.9 x 45). 
General Range.—Northern portions of the Northern Hemisphere. In North 
America breeding wholly north of the United States; in winter migrating south 
to the Middle States, straggling to South Carolina, Texas, California, and 
Bermuda. 
Range in Washington.—Not uncommon winter visitant, sporadically abund- 
ant. 
Authorities——Nyctea nivea, Allen, B. N. O. C. VI. (1881), p. 128. T(?). 
bp Teel 1B} Ey, 
Specimens.—(U. of W.) P*. Prov. E. 
STRAGGLERS of this species are occasionally reported from any of 
the northern States in winter, but it is only upon the occasion of widely con- 
certed movement that general attention is drawn to their presence. Such 
an extended flight occurred in the East in the winter of 1901-2, when 
information of the capture of more than four hundred specimens was com- 
piled by Mr. Ruthven Deane. The last noticeable movement* in the Pacific 
Northwest occurred in 1896-7, being noted by Dr. Merrill at Ft. Sherman, 
Idaho; Rathbun at Seattle; Bowles at Tacoma; and others. They were 
especially noticeable upon the Tacoma tide-flats, since these reproduced on a 
minature scale the tundra of their native haunts. They were, however, 
very wary and difficult of approach, in spite of the glare of bright sunshine 
on the snow. 
No opportunity is ever lost of killing one of these handsome midwinter 
visitors; and one might suppose, from the number of specimens which adorn 
store windows and taxidermists’ shops, that the bird is much more common 
than it really is. 
“The home of the Snowy Owl is on the immense moss- and lichen- 
covered tundras of the boreal regions, where it leads an easy existence and 
finds an abundant supply of food during the short Arctic summers. _ It 
hunts its prey at all hours and subsists principally upon the lemming, and 
it is said to be always abundant wherever these mammals are found in 
any numbers. Small rodents are also caught, as well as Ptarmigan, Ducks, 
and other water fowl, and even the Arctic hare, an animal fully as heavy 
again as these Owls, is said to be successfully attacked and killed) by 
them” (Bendire). 
a. Again abundant thruout State in winter of 1908-9; number killed near Walla Walla in Dec. 1908. 
