NYCTEA SCANDIACA : SNOWY OWL. 



95 



ear-tufts, generally overlooked. Facial discs large and complete. 

 Feet densely clothed with feathers. Color white, with more or 

 fewer dark markings, according to age, sex, or other circum- 

 stances ; some individuals are nearly white, but the majority are 

 fully spotted with dusky, especially on the upper parts. The 

 general appearance, however, is unm'stakable. 



Though an Arctic species, this is a very frequent 

 winter visitor in New 

 England, whose ap- 

 pearance is too com- 

 mon and too nearly 

 regular to require 

 any citation of spe- 

 cial instances. In 

 some seasons there 

 is a sort of irruption 

 of these birds from 

 the north, and we 

 hear of their capture 

 in all quarters, they! 

 being too conspicu- 

 ous both in size and 

 color to escape atten- 

 tion. Such a case 

 occurred in the win- 

 ter of 1877, as re- 

 corded by Mr. Ruthven Deane (Bull. Nutt. Club, ii, Jan., 

 1877, p. 9), and many other observers. The great white 

 bird not seldom extends its winter wanderings to the 

 Middle States. The summer home is beyond our limits, 

 and extends to very high latitudes ; but, as suggested 

 by Mr. Boardman, the Snowy Owl may yet be found 

 breeding in the woods of Maine. 



FIG. 18. SNOWY OWL. 



