Genus III. STRIX. OWL. 
Species I. STBLY NYCTEA. 
SNOW OWL. 
[Plate XXXII. Fig. 1— Male.] 
L.\THAii I., 132, No. 17.— BuFFON i., Great While Owl, Edw. Gl.—Snotcri/ 
Old, Arct. Zool. 233, No. 121.* 
The Snow Owl represented in the plate, is reduced to half its natural 
size. To preserve the apparent magnitude, the other accompanying 
figures are drawn by the same scale. 
This great northern hunter inhabits the coldest and most dreary 
regions of the northern hemisphere, in both continents. The forlorn 
mountains of Greeidand, covered with eternal ice and snows, where, for 
nearly half the year, the silence of death and desolation miglit almost 
be expected to reign, furnish food and shelter to this hardy adventurer ; 
whence he is only driven by the extreme severity of weather towards 
the seashore. He is found in Lapland, Norway, and the country near 
Hudson's Bay, during the whole year ; is said to be common in Siberia, 
and numerous in Kamtschatka. He is often seen in Canada, and the 
northern disti-icts of the United States ; and sometimes extends his visits 
to the borders of Florida. Nature, ever provident, has so effectually 
secured this bird from the attacks of cold, that not even a point is left 
exposed. The bill is almost completely hid among a mass of feathers, 
that cover the face ; the legs are clothed with such an exuberance of long 
thick hair-like plumage, as to appear nearly as large as those of a mid- 
dle sized dog, nothing being visible but the claws, which are large, black, 
much hooked, and extremely sharp. The whole plumage, below the sur- 
face, is of the most exquisitely soft, warm, and elastic kind ; and so 
closely matted together, as to make it a difficult matter to penetrate to 
the skin. 
The usual food of this species is said to be hares, grouse, rabbits, ducks, 
mice, and even carrion. Unlike most of his tribe, he hunts by day as 
well as by twilight, and is particularly 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. 
* We add the following synonynies : Sirix ni/ctea, Linn. Si/st. ed. 10, i., p. 93. — 
Gmel. Si/st. I., p. 291. — Lath. Ind. Orn. p. 57. — Slrix Candida, Id. Sup. 2, p. 14. — 
ViEiL. Ois. de I'Am. Sept. i., pi. 18.— Temm. Man. d' Orn. i., p. 82. 
Vol. I.— 6 (81) 
