SNOWY OWL. 191 



t 



White Bear to feed on the remains of its prey." Notwith- 

 standing this fact the flesh of the Snowy Owl, the bird 

 heing usually exceedingly fat, is held in high esteem as an 

 article of food by the Laplanders, and, according to Mr. 

 Keeks, by the settlers in Newfoundland. There is little doubt 

 that the same taste was common to the ancient inhabitants of 

 the South of France, since the bones of this bird, associated 

 with those of the Rein-Deer and other northern animals, 

 have been recognized by Prof. Alphonse Milne-Edwards 

 among the kitchen -re fuse found in caverns there, testifying 

 thus to the existence of an Arctic climate at a former epoch 

 in that now sunny region. 



The weird appearance of this species, combined with the 

 desolation of its haunts and the stories told of its attacks 

 on passers-by render it an object of considerable dread 

 among the less-educated Laplanders, and on one occasion 

 a boy asked Wolley, if it could really be a bird. Wheelwright, 

 writing of the species, says : " Its shriek when on the wing 

 resembles a loud l krau-au,' repeated three or four times ; but 

 it is seldom heard except when the bird is excited. Some of 

 the movements of this bird are very extraordinary, and I once 

 saw one fall from a considerable height on to the ground, 

 where it lay for some time perfectly motionless, with out- 

 stretched wings, as if it were shot. I tried to come up 

 within gunshot, but it rose out of distance, and sailed away 

 uttering a wild loud cry, ' Rick, rick, rick,' as if mocking 

 me." Other observers describe the note of this species as a 

 low, whining wail. 



To return to the localities visited by this bird in our own 

 day. It has been met with in Denmark and is said to have 

 occurred in Holland, and once in northern France. Further 

 eastward it is less scarce, and according to Dr. Borggreve it 

 visited Prussia and Pomerania in considerable numbers in 

 the winters of 1858-59 and 1865-66. The same authority 

 also states that it has occurred in Silesia and Upper Lusatia, 

 while, on Herr von Pelzeln's shewing, it would seem to have 

 once occurred in Lower Austria. As with so many other 

 species its limits in Asia are not to be traced, but Mr. 



