240 



SNOWY OWL. 



section : the legs are feathered to the feet, which 

 are bare, and of a pale flesh-colour: the bill is 

 brown, and the irides yellow. This most elegant 

 species is a native of Russia and Siberia. A 

 specimen in the Leverian Museum is said to have 

 been taken at Gibraltar. 



SMOOTH.HEADED OR HORNLESS OWLS. 



SNOWY OWL. , 



Strix Nyctea. S,nivea mgro maculata, rostro nigro, iridibus 

 flams. 



Snow-white Owl spotted with black, with black bill and yellow 

 irides. 



Strix Nyctea. 5. capite Icevi, corpore albido macuUs lunatis 



distantibus fuscis, Lin, 

 Great White Owl. Edwards pi. Ql, ^/T 

 Le Harfang. Buff, ois, Fl, EnL 458. 



This highly elegant species, though before known 

 to North- American travellers, and by drawings 

 which had been made from it, appears to have 

 been first distinctly described by Edwards, who 

 states that " it comes near the first magnitude of 

 this genus, and is the most beautiful of all the 

 species, on account of its exceeding snowy white- 

 ness : its head is less in proportion than in other 

 owls; the wing, when closed, is sixteen inches 

 from the shoulder to the tip of the longest quill, 

 which may give a judgment of its size. It is said 



