OBSERVATIONS ON THE SNOWY OWL. 159 
cult to be discovered, and by the inequalities of their sur- 
face afford it shelter from the rays of the sun ; but on the 
approach of twilight, it may be seen perching on the ex- 
posed eminences. It then quits its haunts, and frequents 
the cultivated fields, prowling over the low grounds in 
quest of mice and small birds. When first observed to leave 
its retreat, it is frequently assailed by crows and other birds ; 
but it receives their attacks rather as an amusement than 
an annoyance, and dashes through the air despising their 
hostility. 
It preys chiefly on sandpipers, on which it pounces with 
precision and agility as it skims along the marshes. The 
specimen given to Mr Bullock's Museum, had an entire 
one in its stomach when I shot it ; and a mouse perfectly 
whole was taken from that of the present specimen. 
I may here remark, that the stomach appears to be pecu- 
liarly small, and less membranous than what occurs in other 
carnivorous birds, and the food seems to be swallowed en- 
tire ;— indeed, its bill being feathered to its point, renders 
this almost necessary. 
When wounded or irritated, it hoots very vehemently, 
shaking its feathers, and striking rapidly with its feet ; but 
otherwise, it appears to be as silent as it is recluse. And 
those screams, which Pennant describes as adding horror 
even to the desolate polar wastes, though a fine feature of 
wild sublimity, yet seem wanting to the scenery of Zet- 
land, — this robust arctic warbler perhaps reserving his me- 
lodious powers for the icy solitudes of his favourite regions. 
From the secluded nature of its retreats, its great rarity, 
and the superstitious aversion in which it is held by the 
islanders, who regard it a bird of ill omen, it is not surpris- 
ing that its breeding-place in Zetland is so obscure. I have 
never heard of its nest having been found either there or in 
Orkney, — though, from meeting with it at all seasons, and 
