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females, from which he infers that the young birds wander more than the old ones. In Finland, 

 as in Sweden, it occurs more frequently in the northern portions of the country, though during 

 severe winters seen also in the south ; when at Uleaborg I procured a very fine adult male near 

 that town in the late autumn, and saw specimens which had been shot in Central Finland. It 

 has been met with as far north as Spitsbergen, where Professor Malmgren obtained a specimen 

 in 80° 10' N. lat., between Verlegen Hook and Shoal Point, in July 1861, this bird being now in 

 the Stockholm Museum. Professor Newton referring to this specimen writes (Ibis, 1865, p. 501) 

 that " this is the only recorded instance of the Snowy Owl having been met with in Spitsbergen ; 

 but Stabbel, our pilot, told me he had known of its occurrence there previously — I think he 

 said on the eastern coast." It occurs in Novaya Zemlya, where, Mr. Gillett states (Ibis, 1870, 

 p. 305), it is " very common all along the coast. I never saw this bird attempt to feed on 

 blubber or carrion ; indeed I never saw it on the ice at all ; but it is possible that, in the winter, 

 or when pressed by hunger, it may occasionally pick up offal, as Admiral von Wrangell has 

 asserted. My impression is that it lives a good deal on young sea-fowl and Arctic Foxes. 

 Lemmings no doubt are its favourite food ; but I saw no traces of any great quantity of them in 

 Novaya Zemlya, nor did I see a single live one. In some places, however, there were their 

 burrows and a few dried remains. I shot three Snowy Owls in various localities. They were all 

 remarkably fat, having a thick hard layer under the skin, answering to the blubber of a Seal. 

 Their stomachs were empty." 



In Northern Russia it is common, and is especially so in the wilder portions of the Archangel 

 Government, near the town of that name, and breeds on the tundras not far from Archangel. I 

 have lately received several very handsome specimens shot near that town, all in adult plumage. 

 Mr. L. Sabaniieff writes to me that " it breeds in the Government of Jaroslaf, and a young bird 

 was brought from Podolsk. It is distributed throughout the Perm Government, more common 

 towards the north, and breeds on the open plains near Shadrinsk." 



It occurs, Mr. Taczanowski informs me, " in Poland during the winter, but is rare. The 

 winter of 1858-59 was remarkable from the unusually large numbers which occurred in different 

 parts of the country." According to Tyzenhauz it arrives in the autumn in Lithuania, and winters 

 there. According to Borggreve it " occasionally visits North Germany, more especially the coast- 

 region. Gloger and Tobias record its occurrence in Silesia and Oberlausitz ; and it was compara- 

 tively common in Pomerania in the winters of 1865-66 and 1858-59." Mr. Wiese (J. f. 0. 1860, 

 p. 214), referring to the irruption of these Owls in the winter of 1858-59, says that about sixty 

 were obtained near Konigsberg alone. It has occurred as far south as Bohemia, where, according 

 to Fritsch (J. f. O. 1871, p. 182), one was obtained in March 1862, and a second by Hoffmann in 

 the autumn of 1864 from Hradisko, near Sadska, also in Bohemia. Zittwitz also (fide v. Homeyer, 

 J. f. O. 1870, p. 217) states that Seiffertitz obtained one alive from near Herzberg. Mr. Fischer 

 writes that lately this species has appeared in Denmark almost every winter, and in the winter of 

 1865-66 several were shot. Professor Blasius (Ibis, 1862, p. 65) records it from Heligoland; and 

 it has occurred in Holland four times since 1806. De la Fontaine refers to a specimen preserved 

 in the Luxemburg collection, which was killed near Kopstal in 1857 ; and Messrs. Degland and 

 Gerbe record it as " of occasional and very rare occurrence in France and Belgium." 



To the eastward the Snowy Owl occurs throughout Siberia down to Murdan, where it was 



