ORNITHOLOGY OF THE BRITISH POLAR EXPEDITION. 123 
those gathered by me were never discoloured except when addled 
or containing young; one or two addled eggs occurred in every 
nest, and these were left entire after the young had flown. When 
an owl's nest is approached closely the male bird flies at the 
intruder’s face, snapping its beak loudly and quickly, and swerving 
off so closely as to let one feel the wind from its wings. At these 
times the bird is a splendid sight, its large yellow eyes blazing 
with rage as it swoops down at an angle of about forty-five degrees 
from a distance of thirty or forty yards straight for the enemy’s 
face. The final swoop of the male was always made when the 
nest was discovered, and upon one or two occasions the bird fell 
a victim to its daring from a blow of the gun-barrel. While this 
was going on the female, who is generally flying around or seated 
at a safe distance, keeps up a loud, angry screaming. The 
other cries of the owl were a deep note, half “coo” and half 
“hoot,” which is made by the male when a stranger approaches 
the breeding-place, and a deep “ quack,” which the female makes 
when she first leaves the nest. After a little practice one can 
interpret these notes so as to discover the nest without any 
difficulty. The eye of the Snowy Owl is very beautiful, the pupil 
black, the iris broad and golden yellow, with an outer ring of black. 
The flesh of the Snowy Owl is white and of a delicate flavour, the 
skin being extremely thin and difficult to preserve. A pinioned 
adult male, captured during the breeding season, and kept in 
confinement, refused all food and died in a few days. Many young 
were reared, and a few lived till we reached the Atlantic, but none 
survived the passage. 
The very old male is pure, unspotted white throughout, and 
remains so throughout the summer. Females and young males 
are more or less spotted with reddish or greyish brown, especially 
upon the wings and wing-coverts; the latter feathers are the 
latest to become white. The males become less spotted as they 
advance in age; but of a pair the male is always the least marked, 
the female never, I believe, becoming purely white. The male 
owl takes great care of his mate while hatching, laying by her side 
a store of lemmings in tempting array; six to a dozen was a 
common provision, but in one case as many as twenty-seven 
lemmings and the remains of a full-grown hare were arranged 
around the nest containing young and eggs. I have seen these 
supplies surrounding the nest containing eggs alone. It will be 
