SNOWY OWL. 313 



is pure white, having the tips of the feathers 

 brownish black or black, and the rest of the 

 feathers crossed with decided bars of the same 

 colour ; on the inner webs of the wings, the bars 

 are incomplete, and are only marked next the 

 quill ; on the tail, they are often wanting en the 

 outer feathers. In the males, the plumage has 

 fewer barred markings, and they are of a deeper 

 black, the head and upper portion of the back and 

 neck being sometimes nearly without them ; in 

 the female, the markings assume a tint of brown. 

 The tarsi and feet are thickly clothed with plumes, 

 having the webs unconnected, and assuming the 

 form of thin bristles ; they often entirely conceaV 

 the hinder claw, and when the bird is at rest, 

 nothing but the tips of the claws are visible. The 

 irides are gamboge yellow. The dimensions of a 

 female killed by Mr Edmonstone was, in the 

 extent of the wings, five feet five inches; the 

 weight five pounds. 



A female in our own collection, from Orkney, 

 is in length, from the crown to the end of the tail, 

 about twenty-five inches. 



It is by blending the manners of this bird with 

 those of the true Hawk Owls, in conjunction with 

 their form, that we are brought back to a close 

 reunion with the true diurnal Raptores ; and 

 we have another bird only to mention, which 



