134 STRIGIDjE. 



RAPTORES. STRIG1DAZ. 



PLATE XXVII. 



SNOWY OWL. 



Strix Nyctea. (Linn.) 



This Owl is particularly distinguished from all its con- 

 geners by its small head and face, in proportion to the size 

 of the body. The fact of its being a diurnal feeder may be 

 discerned in its slender make, and greater agility, and it 

 differs in some other respects from the night-flying owls ; 

 its feathering is firmer, the wings are narrower and more 

 pointed, and there is no serrated border on the edge of the 

 quill-feathers : of the usual disk of the face hardly any trace 

 is to be found. 



This large and handsome bird, which is the next in point 

 of size after the Eagle-Owl, belongs to the more northern 

 regions of Europe, Asia, and America ; is well known and 

 plentiful in Greenland, in Hudson's Bay, and in the islands 

 of the Arctic Sea. Although the Snowy Owl is able to bear 

 the severest cold, it migrates towards the south during the 

 winter season. In America, for instance, it occurs as far 

 south as Pensilvania, and in Asia is found in Astrachan. In 

 Hudson's Bay, the north of Siberia, and in Kamschatka they 

 are very common, and by no means rare in the north of 

 Russia, Lapland, and the north of Sweden. To the southern 

 parts of these countries, and to Poland, Prussia, and the 

 north of Germany they only travel during winter; and al- 

 though of uncommon occurrence they have been captured in 





