SNOWY OWL. 177 



SURXIA XYCTEA. 

 SNOWY OWL. 



(PLATE 7.) 



Strix alba freti-hudsonis, Briss. Orn. i. p. 522 (1760). 



Strix nyctea, Linn. Syst. Xat. i. p. 132 (1766); et auctorum plurimorum 



(Thompsoti), (3acgillivray), (Selby), (Gould), (Degland), (Gerbe), Temminck, 



yaumann, Schtegd, SundevaU, &c. 



Aluco diurnus, Gerini, Orn. Meth. Dig. i. p. 89, pi. Ixxxxiii. (1767). 

 Strix nivea,, Tintnb. Si\ Akad. Fork. 1798, p. 184. 

 Strix Candida, Lath. Ind. Orn. Stippl. p. xiv (1801). 

 Strix erminea, Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zrtol. vii. pt. 1, p. 2-51 (1809). 

 Xoctua nyctea (Linn.), Cuvier, Regne An. i. p. 332 (1817). 

 Xyctea erminea (Steph.), Steph. Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. ii. p. 63 (1826). 

 Surnia nyctea (Linn.}, James, ed. Wils. Am. Orn. i. p. 92 (1831). 

 Xyctia Candida (Lath.), Swains, Classif. B. ii. p. 217 (1836). 

 Xyctea nivea (Thunb.), Gray, Gen. B. i. p. 34 (1845). 

 Leuchybris nyctea (Linn.), Sundev. Meth. Ac. Tent. p. 106 (1872). 

 Xyctea scandiaca (Linn.), apud Xewt. ed. Yarr. Brit. B. i. p. 187 (1872). 

 Xyctea scandiaca (Linn.), apud Ridgway, var. arctica (Bart.), Ridgw. N. Amer. B. 



iii. p. 70(1874). 

 Leuchybris scandiaca (Linn.), apud Meces, Ofv. Kongl. Fet.-Ak. Forh. 1879, p. 39. 



The Snowy Owl is a regular, though uncertain, visitor to the British 

 Islands. Scarcely a year passes without a record of its capture in some part 

 of Scotland ; but in England and in Ireland it is less regular in its appear- 

 ance. The Snowy Owl belongs to the class of ' c Gipsy migrants," who 

 have no settled home in winter. It breeds on the tundras beyond the 

 limit of forest- growth, or in similar climates at high elevations in less 

 northerly latitudes, and it only leaves these breeding-grounds in conse- 

 quence of the scarcity of food caused by exceptional cold. It is conse- 

 quently only a partial migrant. Some remain throughout the winter in 

 the frozen north ; others retire to a greater or less distance during a storm 

 or a harder frost than usual, and return when it is over. Some of these 

 often wander very far in search of food ; and it is only when the winters 

 in the Arctic Regions are exceptionally mild that the outside stragglers 

 do not reach our islands. In the Orkneys and the Shetlands scarcely a 

 season passes without birds occurring, usually after northerly gales ; whilst 

 on the mainland it has been obtained in most of the Highland counties and 

 those bordering the Firth of Clyde. The same may be said of the Hebrides 

 and Western Isles, where, according to Gray, it is regarded as an almost 

 regular spring visitant; but probably an irregular late winter guest would 

 be more correct. In England, although of not quite such frequent occur- 

 rence, it has without doubt occurred thrice in Northumberland, once 



VOL. I. N 



