THE SNOWY OWL. 
41 
darker plumage ; and this is all precisely what we should ex- 
pect on the supposition of this species breeding in Zetland.” 
Some years afterwards Dr Edmondston .received information 
that a nest containing three well-fledged young birds had been 
found in August, on a low rocky ledge not far from Balta 
Sound. The young were “ of a brown colour, sprinkled with 
grey.” While at rest during the daytime, its favourite haunts 
are exposed hills covered with large stones, upon the shady side 
of which it crouches ; and although often difficult to approach 
on such occasions, its sense of hearing being very acute, it is 
nevertheless sometimes come upon unawares. A man in this 
island once crept up to a Snowy Owl and knocked it over with 
his stick, injuring it so little that he carried it home and kept 
it alive for some time. Now and then, too, we hear of boys 
pelting one with stones. When one of the birds is known to 
have arrived in this island, it is nearly sure to be discovered 
by any person who will carefully explore certain hills, which 
have always been preferred before all other situations. These 
hills are, however, strewn with large grey stones, intermixed 
with a few long-shaped white ones, and I know several stones 
which have been more than once carefully stalked by the 
would-be owl-slayer. But, after all, such an error may be in 
some degree excusable, for the l)ird is exceedingly difficult to 
discover while resting in such situations, closely assimilating 
as it does in colour with the surrounding stones ; and any 
person who resolved to walk up to everything bearing a re- 
semblance to the object of his search, would require for his 
purpose a large amount of patience, a very long pair of legs, 
and a very long day indeed. In the immediate neighbourhood 
of the most frequented places of retirement, large pellets of 
bones, skin, and feathers may always be discovered. I have 
never heard of an instance in which it has been met with upon 
the hills at night. It leaves them about sunset, and descends 
to the low grounds, returning early next morning. In these 
islands the hill tops are very frequently covered with snow, 
from which in the daytime a glare proceeds whicli is^ painful 
