1822.] Bewick’s History of British Birds. 299 
wood engraving in conveying all the difficulties of indistinctly 
variegated plumage. In the body of the work, we would parti- 
cularly point out the white owl (S. Flammea), the long eared owl, 
bittern, night jar, tame duck, woodcock, and starling, as splen- 
did examples of the same kind. We prefer the name eagle owl 
to any yet given, for reasons which will afterwards appear. 
Strix Nyctea—Lin. Snowy Owl.—First made known to 
British Ornithology by Mr. Bullock, who in 1820, pursued one 
amongst some of the Orkney islands, but missed it. Thence 
passing over into the Zetland islands, he procured an adult male 
specimen, shot by Mr. L. Edmondston in the island of Unst, 
where it is understood to breed. According to the account 
given of it by Mr. Edmondston in the last volume of the Werne- 
rian Transactions, its size must equal, if not exceed that of the 
former species, though Edwards and others are of a different 
opinion. Possibly the discrepance may have arisen frum the 
individuals described having been of different sexes, the female 
being suspected by Mr. Edmondston to be the larger, as in the 
eagle and other rapacious birds. The Zetlandic name is cat-yogle, 
the appellation given to all owls in that part of the country. 
It is very rare, attaching itself to two or three districts only of 
the island, and affecting solitary, stony, and elevated places. 
Its aspect is comparatively lively, its form and manner rather 
elegant, and its flight less buoyant and more rapid than that of . 
the other owls. It preys chiefly on sand-pipers, mice, and 
rabbits. The figures generally given of this bird denote dif- 
ference of sex, immaturity of plumage, or the habit of changing 
with season or climate; for they appear more or less speckled 
with brown. 
Strix Passerina—Lin. Petite Chouette—Buf. The Little 
Owl.—This was the noctua minor and minima of Gessner, 
Brisson, and the older naturalists. Linnzus characterizes it as 
magnitudo passeris, which must be a mistake, though it does 
vary much in size. It is the smallest of the ear/ess branch, but 
certainly not of the eared branch of the owl family, for it is 
larger than the next in order, viz. 
Strix Scops—Lin. Scops ou petit Duc—Buf. Little Horned 
Owl.—The engraving art scarcely furnishes any thing to surpass 
the softness and delicacy of touch displayed by Mr. Bewick in 
the plumage of this, the most diminutive of the owl kind. Indeed, 
we may remark that in. the representation of plumage, he stands 
unrivalled, Artists in general content themselves with giving a 
rough resemblage of plumage. Mr. Bewick gives each parti- 
cular feather, or at least all the important classes of fea- 
thers, as they are to be seen on the body of the bird. In the 
Gmelin edition of Linnzus’ Systema Nature, this owl is said 
not to belong to Britain. It has only been lately arranged, and 
completes the series of British owls. This and the foregoing 
species exemplify in the most palpable manner, the impropriety 
of making specific character depend upon size. Any word, 
