86 
Allen’s naturalist’s liisrary. 
beyond the region of forest-growth. Colonel Feilden, during 
the voyage of the Alert towards the North Pole, found this 
Owl nesting in Grinnell Land as high as 82° 33' N. lat. It 
arrived there on the 29th of March and left at the end of 
August. In some of its northern haunts, however, the Snowy 
Owl is but a straggler, as is the case in the Fteroe Islands, 
Iceland, and Spitsbergen, though it is common and chiefly a 
resident in the Kola Peninsula, Novaya Zcmlya, Waigatz I^and, 
and Franz Josef Land. In Russia its breeding-range occasion- 
ally extends farther south, and in winter it wanders (in some 
seasons occurring in some numbers) as far south as the United 
States, and to many of the countries of Europe, while it has 
even been found in Turkestan and the Indus Valley. 
Hatits. — The Snowy Owl is a bird of the tundra, or barren 
grounds, and nests in the Arctic Regions of both Hemispheres 
beyond the limit of forest-growth. Its distribution is some- 
what affected by the abundance of Lemmings, which con- 
stitute its principal food, as Professor Newton says, occa- 
sionally “ following those destructive little Rodents along the 
mountain ranges to lower latitudes, generally keeping, however, 
on the fells. It is thus often found to breed abundantly in a 
district wherein for many years before it had only been known 
as a straggler.” Mr. Nelson states that in Alaska, in a good 
Lemming year, the Snowy Owls have been seen dotting the 
country here and there, as they perched on the scattered knolls, 
and they then make their nests on the ground, on the sides of 
the hills. 
Besides the Lemming, which constitutes its principal food, 
the Snowy Owl feeds on Hares and other game, particularly 
Grouse and Ptarmigan, and it has been known to accompany 
sportsmen and seize the birds as they fell, before the hunter 
could recover them. It is also said to catch fish, and will 
pursue and hunt Ducks and other water-fowl. The note of 
the bird, when on the wing, is said by 'Wheelwright to be a 
loud “ krau-au,” repeated three or four times, but it is seldom 
heard unless the bird is excited. 
ITest. — Made of a little moss or lichen, with a few feathers. 
'I'he eggs are often laid upon the bare ground, or in a little 
hollow scooped in the reindeer-moss. I'hey are not laid all 
