102 strigidjE. 



have been invariably captured within a very short time. In the 

 few instances in which I have seen dead prey seized, the 

 four claws were used.* 



The preceding account of Mr. Langtry*s birds was published 

 in the Annals of Natural History for June, 1838. Two of them 

 were soon after that period sent to the Zoological Garden, in the 

 Phoenix Park, Dublin. Respecting the one which survived the 

 longest, I made the following notes on the 6th of Sept., 1845: — 

 "This bird, now more than eight years old, appears in the highest 

 state of health, and from the exceeding richness of its soft downy 

 plumage, is extremely beautiful. It is much whiter than any of 

 the individuals represented in the works at hand for reference, 

 namely, those of Bewick, Wilson,t Selby, Bennett,^ Yarrell, and 

 Jardine.|| At a front view, — the bird looking towards me, — it is 

 purely white without a single spot ; viewed dorsally, the upper 

 half of its plumage is also white, but on the coverts about the 

 middle of the wing, two or three blackish-brown spots appear. 

 The only other markings of this colour are a very few spots dis- 

 posed at random on the lowest portion of the wing-coverts, and a 

 few bands towards the tips of two of the secondaries. The bird 

 is wholly white excepting the wings, to which the dark markings 

 are confined, and these are different on each wing." Tins bird 

 died in the middle of October, 1846, and a post-mortem exami- 

 nation of its body took place. Outwardly all looked fair, but 

 within "not a muscle, vessel, or portion of viscera but was 

 diseased." (Ball.) 



Migration of the Snowy Owl. 



The following notes were published in the Annals of Natural 

 History for April, 1839:— 



I have the pleasure on this occasion of recording a novel and 

 interesting fact in the history of that beautiful bird, the snowy 

 owl. By the ship John and Robert, (Captain M'Kechnie), of 501 

 tons burthen, belonging to the port of Belfast, that arrived here 

 from Quebec early in the month of December, 1838, three speci- 



* See observation to the contrary in the last-cited work, p. 310. 

 t Amer. Ornith. % Gard. and Menag. Zool. Soc. || Hist. Brit. Birds. 



