184 BIRDS OF NORTH CAROLINA 



Genus Nyctea (Steph.) 

 167. Nyctea nyctea (Linn.). SNOWY OWL. 



Description. -Pure white, more or less barred with dusky, the markings much more extensive 

 iif the female. L., 23.00 to 27.00; W., 17.25 to 18.75; T., 9.75 to 10.25. 



Range. Northern parts of Northern Hemisphere, in winter straggling to North Carolina 

 Louisiana, etc. 



Range in North Carolina. Occasional in winter in all parts of the State. 



FIG. 142. FOOT OF A SNOWY OWL. 



The beautiful Snowy Owl is only a very irregular winter visitor with us; still, 

 we have records of its occurrence in all three divisions of the State. In the eastern 

 section, one was taken on December 4, 1897, by W. E. Stone in Hyde County, and 

 is now in the State Museum at Raleigh. A second specimen in the Museum came 

 from Granville County, in the middle section, and was captured on January 7, 

 1902. Another was taken in Nash County in late November, 1909, and in 1894 

 there was a mounted specimen in a barroom in Greensboro that had been shot in 

 Guilford County during the previous winter. We have Cairns's statement that he 

 had often heard of these owls being seen not far from Weaverville, in the moun- 

 tains, and once had personally observed one. 



Though appearing larger than the Great Horned Owl, it is really a smaller 

 bodied bird. It is a keen, persistent hunter, and destroys many small birds and 

 mammals. As the principal home of this bird is in far northern latitudes, we need 

 have little fear of its depredations. 



THE CAROLINA PAROQUET, Conuropsis carolinensis (Linn.), was once found in great numbers 

 in North Carolina. We have no definite records of its occurring here, however, since Catesby's 

 record in 1731 (Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and the Bahama Islands). It was last noted 

 from South Carolina in 1851, and there is a West Tennessee record as late as 1876. Formerly 

 it wandered over the State in flocks, feeding upon the seeds of the cockle-burr, thistle, and other 

 plants. 



The Carolina Paroquet belongs to the order Psittaci -parrots. 



XIII. ORDER COCCYGES. CUCKOOS, KINGFISHERS, ETC. 



This order is composed of a number of quite diverse families, mostly with the 

 toes either two in front and two behind, or with the outer and middle toes united 

 for half their length. 



