47-2 
SNOWY OWL. 
Anim. p. 58. — Strlx alba Freti Hudsonls, Briss. 1. p. 522 -La Chouette Har- 
I'ang, Buff. Ois. 1. p. 387. — Ib. pi. Enl. 458 Temm. Man. d’Orn. 1. p. 82. 
— Veit. Ois. d’Amer. Sept. 1. pi. 18. — Chouette blanche, Vailt. Ois. d’Afr. 1. 
pi. 45. old bird.-^Schnee-Kauz, Bechst. Naturg. Dent. 2. p. 925. — Schnewuil, 
Meyer, Vdg. Liv. und Esthl. p. 29 Snowy Owl, Arct. Zool. 2. No. 121.^ — 
Lath. Syn. 1. p. 132. 17. — Ih. Supp, p. 45 Mont. Supp. to Orn. Diet. — .Be- 
wick’s Supp. Br. Birds. — Wernerian Trans. 4 Selby, pi. 23. p. 88, 
Mr. Bullock received a specimen from Norwich, with an assurance 
of its having- been killed in that neighbourhood. But this naturalist, 
by a perseverance in the pursuit of natural objects, has been fortunate 
enough to discover that the Snowy Owl actually breeds in the more 
northern part of these realms. 
In a tour to the Orkney and Shetland islands, Mr. Bullock was 
informed, on his landing at North Ronaldshaw, that a large white bird, 
with a head like that of a cat, had been seen on the island for upwards 
of a month ; and, in consequence of a gentleman of the island assuring 
him that he had seen the bird (which he described to be as large as a 
goose) the evening before, he determined to lose no time in pursuit. 
The place where this owl was always seen is a rabbit-warren, called 
the Links ; to that place, therefore, Mr. Bullock, in company with two 
other persons, bent his course, and found the bird exactly in the place 
where it had been so often seen. It was on the ground contiguous to the 
shore, and, doubtless, frequented the warren for the sake of making a 
prey of the rabbits. The bird suffered Mr. Bullock to approach within 
forty yards, and by means of a glass he minutely examined it, and dis- 
covered that it was a male by its being of an immaculate white. When 
it rose it was fired at, but unfortunately was not stopped, and it flew 
about a mile. A reward being offered, all the guns in the island were 
put in instant requisition, and the consequence was, that by being re- 
peatedly shot at by bad marksmen, the bird flew at last from the island, 
in the direction of the Isle of Sanda. It appears that the female owl 
had been shot on the island a few weeks before, and plucked for the 
sake of the feathers ; this was mottled with brown. 
Upon visiting the Isle of Westra, a few days after, Mr. Bullock was 
informed that a similar bird had been seen there a few days before on a 
rabbit-warren. In Shetland, Mr. Bullock was more successful, for in 
Unst, the most northerly of the islands, he not only procured a speci- 
men of the Snowy Owl, but found that it bred as well there as on the 
neighbouring isle of Yell. From the observations of this gentleman, 
it appears that this species of owl preys in mid-day, as well perhaps as 
in the morning dawn, or dusk of the evening. This circumstance is 
not singular, since some of the other species do the same. It does not 
conceal itself like most of the genus, but prefers resting upon the 
