292 



6 



obtained by one of Mr. A. O. Hume's collectors. Pennant (op. cit.) states that it is found in 

 the latitude of Astrachan. Von Middendorff found it common in the Taimyr country up to 

 the Arctic Ocean. Von Schrenck records it as found in the Amoor in winter ; but he never met 

 with it in the summer season. He obtained one specimen from the village of Tylm, on the 

 Lower Amoor, in January. Dr. Radde says that it is common in Mongolia, but only in the 

 winter ; and on the 27th of April he observed but few on the Tarei-nor, though he obtained a 

 very old male as late as the 7th of May (25th of April, O.S.). In the wooded districts it was 

 very rare, but numerous on the bare elevated steppes of the Transbaikal country, where it feeds 

 on the piping hare (Lagomys ogotona), and becomes excessively fat. Respecting its occurrence in 

 India, Mr. A. O. Hume writes (Ibis, 1872, p. 410) that he had "repeatedly received information 

 of the occurrence in the cliffs overhanging the Cabul river and other localities at the western 

 extremity of the Peshawur valley of a huge White Owl ; but it never occurred to me that this 

 could be the Snowy Owl, considering the geographical position of the Peshawur valley, which 

 hardly passes 34° north latitude. The acquisition of this specimen sets the matter at rest. The 

 bird measured in the flesh by Dr. Johnson was a male. My shikaree, who was with Dr. Johnson, 

 and who has now returned to me, reports having seen several other and some much larger speci- 

 mens. The occurrence of this species, apparently as a permanent resident (for the bird was killed 

 on the 3rd March), in the mountains separating Afghanistan from the Peshawur valley appears 

 to me to be a most noteworthy fact." 



In America the Snowy Owl is common, and resident in the fur-countries. Professor Spencer 

 F. Baird records it as " resident in Canada (Br. A. Hall), Greenland (Holboll), South Carolina, 

 Kentucky (Audubon), Bermuda (Jardine)." I met with it not unfrequently during the winter in 

 New Brunswick, and obtained several specimens there. Captain Blakiston (Ibis, 1863, p. 50) 

 observed it in the neighbourhood of the forks of the Saskatchewan in November ; and Mr. Boss 

 found it breeding on the Mackenzie. Mr. Dall, writing on the birds of Alaska, states that he 

 "got from Takitesky, near Nulato, a fine female, April 27th, 1867. Mr. Thomas S. Denison 

 collected at Egowik, Norton Bay, a male of this species during the month of April 1867. This 

 species is rather rare in the valley of the Lower Yukon ; but I have seen it twice flying over the 

 ice in the winter-season. It flies quite readily during the day, and is very alert and active, seldom 

 waiting for one to get in range." It is also recorded by Mr. R. Brown (Ibis, 1868, p. 419) from 

 Vancouver's Island. 



To the southward it has been known to straggle into Texas, where, as my friend the late 

 Dr A. L. Heermann informed me, a single specimen was shot near San Antonio about three 

 years before the war. It has occurred on the Bermudas, where, according to Wedderburn 

 (v. Martens, J. f. O. 1859, p. 212), it was seen in the autumns of 1843 and 1853; and it has 

 been recorded by the Duke of Wurtemberg as having occurred in Cuba ; but Dr. J. Gundlach 

 (J. f. O. 1861, p. 43) strongly denies this, and states that Strix furcata was mistaken for the 

 present species. 



Dr. Elliot Coues has sent the following notes on its geographical distribution in the United 

 States : — " Although this bird is fitted to endure the regions of highest latitudes, having the 

 thick clothing of the very extremities- that characterizes the most boreal mammals and birds, and 

 the whiteness of plumage (in a degree shared by no other of its family) that likewise so strongly 



