NYCTEA NIVEA. 
Snowy Owl. 
Strix nyctea, Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 132. 
nivea, Baud. Traite d’Orn., tom. ii. p. 190. 
Candida, Lath. Ind. Oi’n., Suppl. p. 14. 
wapacuthu, Gmel. edit. Linn. Syst. Nat., tom. i. p. 291. 
arctica, Bartr. Trav., p. 285. 
Nyctea erminea, Shaw, Gen. Zool., vol. vii. p. 251. 
cinerea, Steph. Cont. Shaw Gen. Zool., vol. xiii. p. 63. 
Surnia nyctea, Edmonst. Mem. Wern. Soc., vol. iv. p. 157. — Thomps. Ann. Nat. Hist. vol. i. p. 241. 
Noctiia nyctea, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 770. 
Nyctea nivea, Brehm. Isis, 1834. 
Candida, Swains. Class, of Bii’ds, vol. ii. p. 217. 
The Snowy Owl belongs to a great group of birds, so universally dispersed that I believe no portion of tbe 
world is destitute of one or other of its members. This universal distribution of the Strigidm, some of which 
are nocturnal, while others are diurnal, is no less interesting than are the diversities of structure observable 
among them : some are adapted for the capture of living prey of large size, others for seizing the smaller 
quadrupeds and birds, and others again for insects and their larvae. Thus the huge Athenes of Australia destroy 
the Koalas, the Phalangers, the smaller Kangaroos, Perameles, and other less important Marsupials ; the 
Huhua nipalejisis of India is said by Mr. Jerdon to prey on hares, cats, rats, and fish ; and in Africa w^e find 
the Scotopelia Peli, wdiose great size and e.xtraordinarlly developed talons, we may be assured, are adapted 
either for a similar purpose or, perhaps, for the destruction of the Colobi and other Monkeys of that country. 
In the northern regions of the Old World, w^e have the two pow^erful species of the genus Bubo. Of the natural 
food of these Great Owls we know but little, except that they are said to feed on fawns, hares, rats, and small 
quadrupeds, and birds of many kinds, particularly Ptarmigan and Grouse. The members of the restricted 
genus Stria) are more universally dispersed than those of any other form of the entire family, and feed almost 
exclusively on mice and other small Rodents. The diurnal Owls, forming the genus prey upon birds 
and insects ; and it is probable that the numerous minute species found in South America are mortal enemies 
to the Trochilidee, in confirmation of w'hich I may mention that these little birds show their aversion 
to tbe Owds, by attacking them with the utmost fury whenever they come in contact with them. To 
generalize further on the Strigidae as a w'hole would be out of place ; and I have merely made these few 
remarks on their distribution and varied habits for those of my readers who are not professed ornithologists, 
and to state that the Snow^ Owl is a denizen of the ice-bound regions of northern Europe, Siberia, Iceland, 
Greenland, Labrador, and the country north of Davis’s and Barrow’s Straits between America and the 
unknoAvn land ; it also tenants the icebergs which become separated from the mainland and float towards 
warmer regions : the Snowy Owl finds a plentiful supply of food in the numerous birds which settle on 
these floating masses ; here, in company with Polar Bears, with which it shares the seal and the walrus, it 
spends much of its time ; and its whole structure, colouring, and thick plumage are wonderfully adapted for 
such a mode of life. Cold has no eifect upon it ; on tlie contrary, it is what it covets. During the 
breeding-season it proceeds further south, and seeks the milder countries of Norw-ay, Finland, Russia, 
and the fur-countries of America. On the bleak moorland, wfiiere none other but the Lapp or the Esquimaux 
sets his toot, the Snowy Owd performs the duty of reproduction, its nest being placed on the ground, 
and its numerous progeny reared among Hares, Lemmings, Ptarmigans, &c., which afford them an 
abundance of nutriment. 
Dr. Falconer has called my attention to a passage in Wrangel’s ‘Expedition to the Polar Sea:’ — “Saw a 
flight of geese going N.N.W., and a Mliite Owl {Strhv tiycted), on the 1st of May, 150 werst, i. e. 100 miles, 
beyond the Paranon Rocks, and north of the coast-line of Arctic Siberia.” .... At page cxxiii, he says that 
“ the Owl is a carnivorous bird, aud follows the White Bear to feed on the remains of his prey,” meaning 
that he follows the Bear out upon the ice aw'ay from the land. 
In the British Islands, therefore, my readers will be prepared to learn that it is only a chance visitor; still 
its visits are by no means unfrequent, as the following notices of its occurrence (w'hich I give on the authority 
of their authors) will testify. 
“As a British species,” says Macgillivray, “the Snowy Owl was first described in 1812 by Mr. Bullock, 
wfiio met wfith it in the course of a tour through Orkney and Shetland ; but it had previously been found by 
Dr. LawTence Edmonston, of Shetland, who, in 1822, published a detailed account of its habits in the 
