268 SNOWY OWL. 



nificent feathers and lovely plumage as they pass the greater portion of their lives in re- 

 gions so remote and inaccessible that they can be visited only with great difficulty and 

 there are few ornithologists even who have seen the Snowy Owls on their northern breeding 

 grounds. 



Although some of these Owls visit us regularly every winter, they are much more 

 frequently met with during some seasons than others, yet they are not usually very com- 

 mon but, on some occasions, are really abundant. They were remarkably numerous dur- 

 ing the winter of 1877, when hundreds were taken in Eastern Massachusetts alone, and 

 many more seen. These Owls have a decided predilection for barren reaches of sea-board 

 and the place where I was always sure to find them was on the sand hills of Ipswich beach. 

 When the wind was blowing so fiercely and cold that it was almost impossible to make 

 one's way over the sand dunes, I would go in search of the Snowy Owls. I well remem- 

 ber the first specimen that I ever secured, although many years have past since then. I 

 had started out early in the morning of one of those blustering days of which I have spo- 

 ken, to look for birds and, about noon, had caught sight of an Owl sitting under the lee of 

 a sand hill, but almost as soon as I saw him, he noticed me and apparently the recognition 

 was mutual for, as I sunk down behind a hillock to creep nearer in order to obtain a shot, 

 he rose and flew to a neighboring dune, where I followed him but could not get within 

 range. Thus the wary bird led me on, up and down the beach, throughout the remainder 

 of the day until sunset, when upon starting him from the beach near the water, he flew 

 boldly out to sea while I watched him, sadly thinking that the chances of adding that .spec- 

 imen to my collection were exceedingly small; but after going about a mile, he turned, 

 came directly back, and alighted on a high sand hill, not far from where I was standing. 

 As I now had a favorable opportunity of creeping unseen within shot of him, I promptly 

 availed myself of it and just as the sun was sinking in the west, the report of my gun 

 broke the stillness and I had the satisfaction of seeing the bird roll down the declivity up- 

 on which he had been sitting. 



While with us, as intimated, the Snowy Owls are very shy, hiding among the beach 

 grass from which they keep a sharp lookout for intruders and, when once started, will take 

 good care to keep a sufficient distance between themselves and their pursuers. Neither 

 are they apparently much tamer in their northern homes for one that I met with on the 

 Magdalen Islands, behaved in a similar manner. We had landed on the upper end of 

 Grindstone, as this small islet is called, on a barren beach, in order to look for Tern's eggs, 

 when I perceived a fine male Snowy Owl about a hundred yards away, perched on the top 

 of a small building which had been formerly used for drying fish but now deserted. I at 

 once stepped into the boat for my rifle when the bird started and flew some distance, alight- 

 ing on the top of a sand hill where we pursued him but all our efforts to get near him were 

 fruitless and he soon managed to elude us, escaping to a neighboring island. The wildness 

 of this particular specimen may be partly accounted for by the fact that we had shot two 

 Red-throated Divers just before landing and the Owl was probably alarmed by the report 

 of our guns. 



In spite of this propensity to avoid the presence of man while they are in a state of 



