CLARKE: THE BIRDS OF YORKSHIRE. 55 



NYCTEA. SCANDIACA (L.) 

 Snowy Owl. 



A rare and accidental visitant. 



In one instance only has a specimen of this fine species 

 been obtained in Yorkshire, but there are several occasions on 

 which it has been, or is supposed to have been, observed in the 

 county. 



Mr. A. Clapham, of Scarborough, informs me that he has 

 in his collection one which was shot on Barlow Moor, near 

 Selby, on the 13th of February, 1837. At that date the moor 

 abounded in rabbits and furze, and was rented by his father for 

 sporting purposes. The bird was first observed by the miller of 

 an adjoining mill on the 12th and mistaken by him for a goose, 

 but seeing it still there the next day he shot at it, just tipping the 

 pinion. On an attempt being made to capture it, the bird threw 

 itself on its back and offered so fierce a resistance that it was 

 secured with difficulty and afterwards killed. This bird was ex- 

 hibited during the year 1837 at a meeting of the Zoological 

 Society, by Mr. A. N. Vigors, F.R.S. Mr. Clapham tells me that 

 the Rev. Mr. Morris's statement in his British Birds (1851^ i., 195) 

 that this bird was accompanied by another of the same species is 

 incorrect. 



Between the years 1849 and 1853, during the winter or early 

 spring months, Mr. Clapham, whilst walking at Scarborough, saw 

 a large white bird flying towards the castle, which, from its size, 

 soft steady flight and broad wings, he concluded was H. Scandiaca. 

 This impression was confirmed on his hearing a day or two 

 afterwards that a Snowy Owl had been shot at and missed from 

 the Filey Rocks. 



Regarding a possible occurrence of this species at Flam- 

 borough on the i4ih of October, 1865, Mr. Cordeaux wrote as 

 follows in the Zoologist (1866, p. 1026) : — "A large owl chequered 

 all over black and white, and, as the man said, ' as large as a 



