48 SNOW OWL. 



The usual food of this species is said to be hares, grouse, 

 rabbits, docks, mice, and even carrion. Unlike most of his 

 tribe, he hunts by day as well as by twilight, and is particu- 

 larly fond of frequenting the shores and banks of shallow 

 rivers, over the surface of which he slowly sails, or sits on a 

 rock a little raised above the water, watching for fish. These 

 he seizes with a sudden and instantaneous stroke of the foot, 

 seldom missing his aim. In the more southern and thickly 

 settled parts, he is seldom seen ; and when he appears, his 

 size, colour, and singular aspect, attract general notice* 



In the month of October, I met with this bird on Oswego 

 River, New York State, a little below the Falls, vigilantly 

 watching for fish. At Pittsburg, in the month of February, 

 I saw another, which had been shot in the wing some time 

 before. At a place on the Ohio, called Long Beach, I exa- 

 mined another, which was the first ever recollected* to have 

 been seen there. In the town of Cincinnati, State of Ohio, 

 two of these birds alighted on the roof of the court house, and 

 alarmed the whole town. A people more disposed to super- 

 stition would have deduced some dire or fortunate prognos- 

 tication from their selecting such a place ; but the only 

 solicitude was how to get possession of them, which, after 

 several volleys, was at length effected. One of these, a female, 



* The following observations by Mr Bree of Allesly, taken from 

 Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, will show that other owls also 

 fish for their prey : — " Probably it may not be generally known to 

 naturalists, that the common brown owl (Strix stridula), is in the 

 habit — occasionally, at least — of feeding its young with live fish, — a 

 fact which I have ascertained beyond doubt. Some years since several 

 young owls were taken from the nest, and placed in a yew tree, in the 

 rectory garden here. In this situation, the parent birds repeatedly 

 brought them live fish, bull heads {Cottus gobbius), and loach (Colitis 

 barbahda), which had doubtless been procured from a neighbouring 

 brook, in which these species abound. Since the above period, I have, 

 upon more than one occasion, found the same fish, either whole or in 

 fragments, lying under the trees on which I have observed the young 

 owls to perch after they have left the nest, and where the old birds 

 were accustomed to feed them." — Ed. 



