148 OWLS. 



snowy white, with a few darker spots, chiefly about the head. 

 Its thick feathery coating is most admirably adapted for the 

 countries in which nature has appointed it to live. 



During the three summer months in those inhospitable 

 regions, the temperature of the air is little above the freezing- 

 point, and during the remainder of the year far below it : 

 were it not, therefore, for the mass of thick down and feathers 

 in which its body is shrouded, it must soon perish under the 

 intensity of cold ; but as it is, it has nothing to fear ; for, 

 with the exception of the tip of its beak and the extremities 

 of its long black claws, no part is exposed. And again, were 

 it not for its colour, which renders it almost invisible, as it 

 silently skims over the snowy plains, the hares and other 

 animals on which it preys would see its approach, and be 

 prepared for escape. 



Of course, the habits of a bird so seldom coming under 

 human observation can be but little known ; but the few 

 particulars we have been able to collect completely justify the 

 above remarks. Thus, that its snowy plumage is essential to 

 its means of existence, may be gathered from circumstances 

 relating to a couple that were shot in the severe winter of 

 1823, in Northumberland. They had, for some days before 

 they were killed, been observed in the wild and rocky parts 

 of an open moor, either perched upon the snow, or on some 

 large solitary stone projecting from it, from whence, without 

 attracting notice by any contrasting colour, they could look 

 out for their prey, and be prepared to seize it as it incautiously 

 approached. As the smaller species hunt for mice, so does 

 this search for hares and rabbits, on which it pounces, and in 

 a similar manner swallows them, when possible, whole ; a fact 

 ascertained in the case of one shot at and wounded in the 

 island of Balta, which, on being approached, disgorged an 

 entire young rabbit; another, when taken, had a Sandpiper, 

 with the whole plumage, in its stomach. As they were often 

 found dead by Captain Sir Edward Parry, who spent so many 

 months in their most frequented neighbourhood, it is concluded 

 that they frequently perish from want of food ; indeed, their 



