THE SNOWY OWL. 



97 



time in different parts of Ireland. One may be mentioned as 

 having been received from the county of Longford, on the 5th of 

 April, by a bird-preserver in Dublin. When in that city, in the 

 spring of 1838, I saw, in the possession of Edward Waller, Esq., 

 a very fine specimen of the snowy owl, said to have been shot 

 about three years before that time, near Omagh, in the county of 

 Tyrone. There can be little doubt that this bird was of the same 

 "flight" as the others. I was pleased to hear from Dr. P. Neill 

 of Edinburgh, in August, 1835, that he had received a snowy owl 

 alive, in the spring of that year, from Orkney, where it was cap- 

 tured at the end of March. Dr. Neill has contributed a very 

 interesting account of this individual to Sir William Jardine's 

 History of British Birds, vol. i. p. 307. It is there said to have 

 been taken in the middle of April. 



On the 2nd of December, 1837, a beautiful specimen of the 

 snowy owl was shot in a quarry on Scrabo mountain, in the county 

 of Down, and came into the possession of Thomas M'Leroth, 

 Esq., of Killinether House, in that neighbourhood, who liberally 

 presented it to the Belfast Museum. Having come under my 

 inspection in a recent state, I drew up the following description 

 of this bird, which differs in some particulars from other speci- 

 mens described in detail.* On that account, and for the purpose 

 of comparison with individuals noticed in the sequel, it is here 

 given : — 



Length, entire ...... 



Length of wing from carpus to end of longest quill 



tarsus .... 



bill measured along ridge 



cere on its ridge 



bill in a straight line from rictus to outer edge 



middle toe .... 



— its claw, following curvature 



its claw in a straight line 



inner claw, following curvature 



outer claw, following curvature 



hind claw, following curvature 



Wings past the tail .... 



* See Fauna Boreali-Americana, part ii, p. 190, 

 VOL. I. H 



inch. 

 24 

 16 



2 



1 







line. 

 

 6 

 3 

 9 

 9 

 9 

 6 

 8 



3i 

 9 

 6 



