SHADOWY BIRDS OF THE NIGHT 



227 



by flocks of ducks driving steadily south- 

 ward. At intervals it turned to look back 

 over the inland dunes, a form of wild beauty 

 against a wintry setting of gray sky, gray 

 water, and yellow, wind-blown sand. 



As I came near, partly hidden behind a 

 ridge of sand, the owl rose and flew to the 

 south, resting from time to time on the 

 summits of the tallest dunes. 



The male of the snowy owl is frequently 

 so nearly pure white that careful search is 

 necessary to discover a few dusky flecks on 

 the concealed margins of the wing feathers. 

 The female, considerably larger than the 

 male, is also white, but the plumage is 

 barred more or less heavily with dusky and 

 slaty brown. The birds are well suited for 

 life in regions of cold, as their feathers are 

 long and abundant, and grow in dense, 

 closely set filaments clear to the tips of 

 the toes. Even the bill is almost concealed 

 amid the feathers of the face. 



The usual home of the snowy owl is in 

 the far north, where it ranges through the 

 circumpolar regions of both the Old and 

 New Worlds. It lives on the open tundra, 

 though it is found also on the barren slopes 

 of mountains, and seldom enters regions of 

 extensive forests except in winter. 



The food of this owl in its native haunt 

 is composed largely of lemmings, which are 

 a kind of short-tailed mice, the arctic or 

 varying hares, and, to a less extent, birds of 

 various kinds, and fish. 



BIG INVASIONS IN FAMINE YEARS 



At irregular intervals the arctic hares, or 

 snowshoe rabbits, that form much of the 

 winter food of all hunting animals in the 

 vast north, die from disease in such tre- 

 mendous numbers that there are few left to 

 satisfy the hunger of the many creatures 

 dependent upon them. Lynxes and men are 

 left to starve miserably in the cold of the 

 dark winter days, but the snowy owl spreads 

 its broad wings and glides away southward. 



As the shortage of rabbits comes every 

 eight or ten years, the big invasions of 

 snowy owls come at such intervals, though 

 a few may reach the northern United States 

 each winter. 



During these flights of large numbers in 

 the New England States, hunters kill dozens 

 of snowy owls out of curiosity as to what 

 they may be. The birds are often found in 

 little companies that may contain six or 

 eight individuals. Several such flocks may 

 be seen at one locality in a day,, and in big 



invasions, such as that of 1926, hundreds of 

 the birds are recorded. The snowy owl 

 travels without fear over the ocean and has 

 come aboard ships a thousand miles from 

 land. Individuals have even reached the 

 island of Bermuda. 



A FLYING GHOST IS LAID 



Track walkers along a lonely stretch on 

 one of the principal railroads leading into 

 the city of Washington some years ago were 

 terrified at night by a moving white object 

 that glided noiselessly through the air. It 

 was interpreted as the ghost of a man who 

 had been killed in the vicinity. After several 

 weeks during which this spirit of the night 

 had appeared at intervals, striking terror to 

 the soul of the observer, the apparition was 

 laid most effectively when a large snowy owl 

 was shot from its perch in a tree by a hunter. 



In the northern tundras the snowy owl 

 places its nest on the ground on some low 

 eminence. The eight or ten white eggs, 

 longer and less rounded than those of most 

 owls, are as large as small hen's eggs, and 

 are laid in a slight depression which may be 

 lined with a feather or two and some bits 

 of moss, or may be bare. The eggs are not 

 deposited at intervals of a day or so, as 

 those of most birds are, but are laid irregu- 

 larly through a considerable period, so that 

 it is usual to find newly hatched young and 

 fresh or partly incubated eggs in the same 

 nest. 



The young are covered with white down, 

 which, as in the adults, extends clear to the 

 toes. The task of incubation is said to fall 

 to the female, but the male stands guard 

 near by or seeks food for his mate. 



The snowy owl is not nocturnal, as, in its 

 northern haunts where the sun remains 

 above the horizon during midsummer, it 

 must perforce remain active by day. Even 

 where woods are at hand these birds delight 

 in perching on the ground, preferably on 

 some low hillock where they can look about 

 over open spaces. One that lived for sev- 

 eral years in a cage in the National Zoologi- 

 cal Park, in Washington, rested usually on 

 the ground, though a perch was provided. 



In its northern home this owl is regarded 

 at times with dread, as it is fierce in its at- 

 tacks on those who approach its nest. Some 

 have asked if it can be really a bird. Lap- 

 landers are said to consider the flesh of the 

 snowy owl excellent eating. This taste in 

 food may have been shared by men of earlier 

 periods in Europe, as bones of the snowy 



