SXOWY OWL— WHITE OWL. 145 



cellar by day and night, yet never attempts to injure one. In 

 fact my Owl is fast friends with the rats which inhabit the cellar 

 with her, and on several occasions I have seen the meat carried 

 off from under her very claws by these hungry creatures without 

 any demonstration of anger on her part. The Snowy Owl is said to 

 feed occasionally upon carrion ; but this, to my mind, has not been 

 satisfactorily proved. This fact was, perhaps, first recorded of 

 this species by Mr. Hutchins, and has since been re-echoed by 

 other writers without further proof I am inclined to consider the 

 Snowy Owl as being a particularly Jiice bird as regards his eating 

 — as he most assuredly is with regard to the cleanliness of his 

 plumage and surroundings when in captivity. Hunger, however, 

 may cause him to deviate from his usual rule. 



Since penning the immediately preceding lines a circumstance 

 has occurred which exemplifies the fierceness and voracity which 

 may be created by hunger. It is this. I had recently procured a 

 beautiful living specimen of the Short-eared Owl, which was 

 captured in a barn near Longueuil, Montreal, and thinking that 

 Owl would surely agree with Owl, I without hesitation let loose 

 this new capture in the same cellar in which my Snowy Owl was 

 confined. Hardly had the poor little creature touched the ground 

 ere, with a plunge, the Snowy Owl was upon it, and with one grasp 

 of her fearful claws, had extinguished its life. She at once com- 

 menced to devour her victim, and although I seized the murderer 

 and raised her aloft by her wings, she still retained her fearful grasp 

 of her quivering prey, and continued to make desperate efforts to 

 tear it. I eventually succeeded in forcing her to loosen her hold 

 and secured the poor bird, but too late to save its life. On 

 finding her prey gone her fury knew no bounds, and she followed 

 me to the door of the room with dilated eyes and most threatening 

 fjestures. 



The Snowy Owl is common in Newfoundland, and is thought 

 to remain there throughout the year, although it is very rarely 

 seen during the summer months. In a paper by Henry Reeks, 

 published in the " Zoologist " (London, England) for 1869, and 

 subsequently reprinted in our Canadian Naturalist and Geologist 



