146 



SNOWY OWL. 



Strix nyctea, MONTAGU. BEWICK. 



Surnia nyctea, SELBY. GOULD. 



Noctua nyctea, JENYXS. 



Strix Some species of Owl. Nyctea An adjective 



from Nix Snow. 



THE Snowy Owl may derive its name either from the snow- 

 white colour of its plumage when fully adult, or from the 

 snow-covered regions which are its natural residence. 



It inhabits the arctic parts of Europe, Asia, and America; 

 from these it sometimes advances more or less far towards 

 the south, but the farther the seldomer. In Europe it occurs 

 in abundance in Kamtschatka and Siberia; in considerable 

 numbers in Russia, Lapland, Norway, and Sweden; as also in 

 Iceland and Greenland; occasionally in Prussia, Poland, 

 Germany, and Switzerland; and once appeared in Holland, in 

 the winter of 1802. 



This splendid Owl has been one of the 'oldest inhabitants' 

 of the Orkney and Shetland Islands, and specimens have 

 been procured there; but like that well-known character it 

 is now fast becoming apochryphal. Beauty in Owls, as well 

 as in human beings is a dangerous possession, and often 

 entails damage and destruction. One was killed on the Isle 

 of Unst, in the month of August or September, 1812: old 

 birds and young together, have been regularly seen in that 

 island, and also on Yell, in which they have been accustomed 

 to breed. One in Orkney, which had been driven there in 

 a storm from the north-west, at the end of March, in 1835. 

 In Yorkshire one was shot near Selby, on the 13th. of Feb- 

 ruary, 1837; and another was seen in company with it at 

 the same time. Another was shot at Elsdon, in Northumber- 

 land, in December, 1822; and two near Eothbury, in the 

 same county, at the end of January, 1823, during a severe 



