THE TAWNY AND SNOWY OWLS. 95 



It is enumerated in the lists of birds published in several of the 

 Statistical Surveys of counties, and in other catalogues, but in 

 such a manner as «to be unworthy of record here. It never 

 occurred to Mr. Templeton, nor have any of my ornithological 

 friends or correspondents met with a specimen. The only notice 

 which seems authentic, is that published in the 1st volume of the 

 Annals of Natural History, p. 156, to the following effect : — That 

 in Feb., 1838, Mr. Adams, gamekeeper at Shane's Castle park, 

 assured me of a specimen having been killed there, within the 

 preceding few years. From the circumstance of my informant 

 having served in the capacity of gamekeeper in England, before 

 coming to this country, he became acquainted with the species, which 

 he correctly described to me under the name of "brown owl." 

 The gentleman who, in the Zoologist for June 1848, (p. 2141,) 

 and Saunders' News-letter of the 9th of that month, noticed the 

 tawny owl as having been obtained in the Queen's county, men- 

 tions, in a letter to me, that he was mistaken respecting the 

 species. 



Mr. Macgillivray remarks, that "in the northern parts of 

 Scotland this species is seldom, if ever, met with ; but in the 

 wooded portions of the middle and southern divisions, it is more 

 frequently obtained than any other, excepting the long-eared and 

 barn owls," vol. iii. p. 442. 



THE SNOWY OWL. 



Surnia nyctea, Linn, (sp.) 

 Strix „ „ 



Is a very rare winter visitant. 



It is said to have been met with in 1812 and 1827.* Speci- 

 mens killed in two winters only — 1834-35, and 1837-38 — have 

 come under my own examination. To what I have already pub- 



* To Mr. J. Poole, I am indebted for the following note : — Mr. B. Vicary, of 

 Wexford, when residing at Kilmore, on the south coast, in 1812, near an extensive 

 rabbit-burrow, was told on the first day of the shooting season that year, of a very 

 large, white, extraordinary looking bird being perched on a fence at a short distance 

 from the house. It remained on the spot until seen in staring majesty by that gen- 



