&40 SNOWY OWL. 



section: the legs are feathered to the feet, which 

 are bare* and of a pale flesh-colour: the bill is 

 brown, and the irides yellow. This most elegant 

 species is a native of Russia and Siberia. A 

 specimen in the Leverian Museum is said to have 

 been taken at Gibraltar. 



SMOOTH^HEADED OR HORNLESS OWLS. 



SNOWY OWL* 



Strix Nyctea, S. nivea nigro maculatd, rostro nigro, iridihis^ 



Jlavis. 

 Snow-white Owl spotted with black, with black bill and yellow 



irides. 

 Strix Nyctea. S. capite Icevi, corpore albido maculis lunati$ 



distantibvsfuscis. Lin. 

 Great White Owl. Edwards pi. 6i < 

 LeHarfang. Buf.ois. Pl.Enl.458* 



This highly elegant species, though before known 

 to North-American travellers, and by drawings 

 which had been made from it, appears to have 

 been first distinctly described by Edwards, who 

 states that " it comes near the first magnitude of 

 this genus, and is the most beautiful of all the 

 species, on account of its exceeding snowy white- 

 ness : its head is less in proportion than in other 

 owls.; the wing, when closed, is sixteen inches 

 from the shoulder to the tip of the longest quill, 

 which may give a judgment of its size. It is said 



