336 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



of water-fowl on the sea-shore, dozens of snowy-owls were shot by them, and sent to 

 the markets and to the taxidermists, so that during the three following weeks it was a 

 common thing to see them hanging with other game in the markets, or confined alive. 

 I first heard of them on our Massachusetts coast as frequenting the islands off Rock- 

 port, where numbers were taken. 



" One gunner spoke of seeing fifteen at once on a small island one foggy morning, 

 nearly half of which he procured. Several were shot in the very heart of the city of 

 Boston, where they were occasionally seen perched upon the house-tops or church 

 spires. The migration seems also to have extended far to the southward of New 

 England, as I learn fi'om Mr. Boardman that specimens have been taken as far south 

 as Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington. In Philadelphia Mr. John Krider, the 

 well-known taxidermist, had forty sent to him for preparation during October and 

 November. One was taken near Baltimore during the last of September. I have 

 heard of some five hundred specimens that have been seen, the majority of which have 

 been shot." 



They are found all over northern Europe and Asia, and are occasionally taken in 

 Great Britain, and there seem to be no constant differences of any kind between Old 

 and New World specimens, unless Mr. Sharpe's observation, that in European birds 

 the toes are much more heavily feathered, should prove always to hold true. The 

 general color of the snowy-owl is pure white, usually more or less distinctly barred 

 with brown, and it is doubtful if these brown markings are ever entirely lacking on 

 the hind neck, while birds which with this exception are entirely white are extremely 

 rare, and are usually very old males. Young birds, even when fully feathered, often 

 show as much brown as white, and it has been noticed that the specimens which range 

 southward in winter are almost always these much-spotted individuals, fairly white 

 birds being always comparatively rare. 



This owl and the gyrfalcon are probably the only birds of prey which remain in 

 the Arctic regions through the winter, but it seems to be unaffected by the cold, and 

 has been met with as far toward the pole as man has yet reached. It is interesting to 

 notice that no seasonal change in plumage, like that which the ptarmigan undergoes, 

 has been observed in this species, which, when adult, needs no protective coloration, 

 and so retains its white dress through the summer. The nestlings, however, are at 

 first of a uniform sooty-brown, which must be a considerable protection to them 

 during their long stay in the nest, in its exposed position on the ground. This bird is 

 known to breed in Labrador, said to do so in Newfoundland, and suspected of it even 

 as far south as Maine, but its true breeding range probably does not extend south of 

 the parallel of 50, while it breeds most abundantly very much farther north. The 

 nest is seldom more than a hollow in the moss, or a slight depression in a ledge, with 

 perhaps a few feathers added. In this simple affair from six to ten eggs are laid, usu- 

 ally at intervals of at least several days, so that the first have hatched before the last 

 are laid, and the young birds thus contribute their warmth to the other eggs, leaving 

 the parents more at liberty to seek food for themselves and their young. 



The same habit has been noticed among other owls, especially among those which 

 breed early in the spring, when the weather is still very cold. The snowy-owl is 

 almost as diurnal in its habits as the hawk-owl, hunting, however, both by night and 

 day whenever circumstances favor or require it. Though usually quite shy and diffi- 

 cult of approach, it is said to be easily decoyed within range, when there is snow on 

 the ground, by tying a mouse, a bit of hare's skin, or even a bunch of dark rags, to a 



