STRIX. — NYCTEA. I'M 



north oE Scotland. It is not known to occur in tlie Shetland 

 and Orkney Islands or in the Outer Hebrides, but has been 

 introduced into Ireland. 



General Distribution. — The Tawny Owl inhabits Europe 

 and western Asia, ranging from southern Scandinavia to 

 ()4° N. latitude, eastwards to the Obi River and southwards to 

 the Mediterranean, Caucasus, north Persia, Asia Minor, and 

 Syria. It is accidental in the Faeroes, and is represented in 

 north-west Africa and south-western Persia by closely allied 

 races, and by other forms in southern and central Asia. 



Genus NYCTEA Stephens, Gen. Zool. xiii. pt. 2, 1826, 



p. i\•^. 



Type : N. nyctea (Linn.). 



Nyctea= of the night, from the Greek i/i'£=night. 



Nyctea nyctea. Snowy Owl. 



StriX nyctea Linmrus, Syst. Nat. 1758, p. 93 : Sweden. 



Nyctea scandiaca {Linn.); Sharpe, Gat. Birds JB. M. ii. 1875, 

 p. 125 ; B. O. JJ. List, 1st ed. 1883, p. 87 ; Saunders, 

 Manual, 2nd ed. 1899, p. 303. 



Distribution in the British Islands. — A Winter Visitor 

 between September and April to the Shetland and Orkney 

 Islands, and not unusual in the Outer and Inner Hebrides 

 and the mainland of Scotland. It has occurred in England 

 in the eastern and southern counties more than twenty 

 times, while in Ireland more than thirty examples have been 

 recorded, chiefly from the north and north-west. 



General Distribution. — The Snowy Owl inhabits the Arc- 

 tic regions of Europe, Asia, and America, and has nested 

 as far south as Livonia and Orenburg in Russia. In winter 

 it migrates southwards and has occurred in France, Switzer- 

 land, the Balkan Peninsula, Turkestan, north-west Indin, 

 and Japan. It is a straggler to the Faeroes and Iceland, 

 as well as to other parts of Europe. In America it is 

 found as far south as California, Texas, Louisiana, North 

 Carolina, and the Bermudas. 



k:2 



