140 SNOWY OWL— WHITE OWL. 



This handsome bird — the Wapoio-kcetJio, or Wapohoo, of the 

 Cree Indians, and the Oopeegiiak of the Esquimaux — is rather 

 common with us between the months of November and April, or 

 from autumn to spring, being very rarely and only accidentally 

 met with during the summer months. It is of frequent occurrence 

 in the Province of Ontario, but a much larger number of specimens 

 are taken yearly in the neighborhoods of Montreal and Quebec 

 perhaps than elsewhere. I have a number ot these Owls in my 

 stuffed collection and a number more packed away as skins for 

 future study and comparison, all of which were killed within a 

 very short distance of the first-mentioned of these cities. Nor must 

 I foreet one more — a beautiful livino- bird which I was so fortunate 

 as to procure this winter (1876) from a Iiabitant who, by some 

 means or other, had captured without in any way injuring it. 



Of my stuffed birds, one in particular is an old male, a hero 

 evidently of many winters. His plumage is almost spotless white ; 

 his bill and claws are blunted and very much worn ; and his body, 

 when I removed his skin, was remarkably muscular and tough. 

 Another specimen is of considerably larger proportions, and a 

 female. Her plumage is thickly barred or banded with gray, 

 except the chin, throat, and sides of neck, which are of the purest 

 white, this being so distributed as to give the appearance of a 

 rounded apron. Other specimens, doubtless immature birds of 

 both sexes, are of varied markings, the white ground color being 

 variously relieved by spots and bars of brown and gray. A pure 

 white Snowy Owl is of comparatively rare occurrence ; this plum- 

 age, according to most writers, being only attained by very old 

 birds. Sir John Richardson, however, judging from the size of 

 some of these white Owls met with by the expedition, thought 

 differently, and inferred that the old birds of both sexes frequently 

 became zvhite. Be this as it may it is a point of very little import- 

 ance ; but it is my opinion that the unspotted form of plumage 

 belongs only to the males, and this occasionally to young as 

 well as old birds. Females seem to be of much more frequent 

 occurrence than males in Canada, the last occurring perhaps in 

 the proportion of one in ten or fifteen birds, which circumstance 



