THE SNOWY OWLS. 
8S 
Nyctea scandiaca (L.), Newt. ed. Yarn Crit. B. i. p. 187 
(1872); Dresser, B. Eur. v. p. 287, pi. 310 (1873); 
Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus. ii. p. 125 (1875) ; B. O. U. 
List Br. B. p. 87 (1883) ; Saunders, Man. Brit. B. p. 293 
(1889) ; Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B. part xviii. (1891). 
Surma nyclea, Seeb. Brit. B. i. p. 177 (1883). 
(Plate XXXVI.) 
Adult Male. — Pure white above and below, with a longitu- 
dinal spot of brown on the hinder crown and on the wing- 
coverts ; on the quills a few remains of brown bars, and on the 
tail-feathers a small spot near the end of the central rectrices ; 
bill and claws blackish horn-colour; iris deep yellow. Total 
length, 23 inches; wing, 167; tail, 9-6; tarsus, about 2-1. 
Adult Female. — Similar to the male, but a trifle larger. Total 
length, 26 inches; wing, 18-3. 
Young Birds. — Not so pure white as the adults, with bars of 
dusky-brown both above and below, the quills and tail being 
also banded. 
There can be no doubt that the Snowy Owl becomes whiter 
with age, and that the very old individuals lose their markings 
almost entirely, though it is a question whether the females 
ever become perfectly snow-white and lose their spots and 
bars. American specimens appear to have the toes more 
thickly clothed with feathers than European examples. 
Nestling. — Covered with down of a sooty-brown colour. 
Range in Great Britain. — An occasional visitant, occurring 
chiefly in winter, and being noticed nearly every year in the 
Orkneys and Shetland Islands. It has also been recorded 
many times from Scotland, as well as on various occasions in 
England and Ireland. Although many of the Snowy Owls 
winter in the vicinity of their arctic home, it is plain that a 
considerable southward migration takes place, and Thompson 
mentions that a flock of these Owls accompanied a ship half- 
way on the voyage between Labrador and Ireland, while Mr. 
Seebohm one morning found a couple perched on the masts 
of the ship in which he was returning from the Pctchora round 
the North Cape, and when the vessel was out of sight of land. 
Range outside the British Islands. — The Snowy Owl is an in- 
habitant of the high north in both Hemispheres, and breeds 
