86 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



beyond the region of forest-growth. Colonel Feilden, during 

 the voyage of the Alert towards the North Pole, found this 

 Owl nesting in Grinnell Land as high as 82 33' N. lat. It 

 arrived there on the 2Qth of March and left at the end of 

 August. In some of its northern haunts, however, the Snowy 

 Owl is but a straggler, as is the case in the Faeroe Islands, 

 Iceland, and Spitsbergen, though it is common and chiefly a 

 resident in the Kola Peninsula, Novaya Zemlya, Waigatz Land, 

 and Franz Josef Land. In Russia its breeding-range occasion- 

 ally extends farther south, and in winter it wanders (in some 

 seasons occurring in some numbers) as far south as the United 

 States, and to many of the countries of Europe, while it has 

 even been found in Turkestan and the Indus Valley. 



Habits. The Snowy Owl is a bird of the tundra, or barren 

 grounds, and nests in the Arctic Regions of both Hemispheres 

 beyond the limit of forest-growth. Its distribution is some- 

 what affected by the abundance of Lemmings, which con- 

 stitute its principal food, as Professor Newton says, occa- 

 sionally " following those destructive little Rodents along the 

 mountain ranges to lower latitudes, generally keeping, however, 

 on the fells. It is thus often found to breed abundantly in a 

 district wherein for many years before it had only been known 

 as a straggler." Mr. Nelson states that in Alaska, in a good 

 Lemming year, the Snowy Owls have been seen dotting the 

 country here and there, as they perched on the scattered knolls, 

 and they then make their nests on the ground, on the sides of 

 the hills. 



Besides the Lemming, which constitutes its principal food, 

 the Snowy Owl feeds on Hares and other game, particularly 

 Grouse and Ptarmigan, and it has been known to accompany 

 sportsmen and seize the birds as they fell, before the hunter 

 could recover them. It is also said to catch fish, and will 

 pursue and hunt Ducks and other water-fowl. The note of 

 the bird, when on the wing, is said by Wheelwright to be a 

 loud " krau-au," repeated three or four times, but it is seldom 

 heard unless the bird is excited. 



Nest. Made of a little moss or lichen, with a few feathers. 

 The eggs are often laid upon the bare ground, or in a little 

 hollow scooped in the reindeer-moss. They are not laid all 





