SNOWY OWL . — Nyctea nwea. 
The Great Snowy Owl is found in the northern regions of the world, and has 
occasionally made its appearance in England. It is a very large bird, with great 
shining eyes, and has often frightened persons who have come upon it suddenly 
at night. It eats rats, mice, and other creatures, and is very useful in catching 
and devouring the lemmings which pass over vast tracts of country, devastating 
them like clouds of locusts. On this account, the Snowy Owl is an useful bird. 
Sometimes it eats fish, and catches them by sitting on some stump projecting 
over the water, and hooking out the fish with one foot, while it clings to its perch 
with the other. 
The colour of an old Snowy Owl is pure white without any markings what- 
ever ; but in the earlier years of its life, its plumage is covered with numerous 
dark-brown spots and bars, caused by a dark tip to each feather. Upon the 
breast and abdomen, these markings form short abrupt curves, but on the back 
and upper surface they are nearly straight. The beak and claws are black. 
The length of the male Snowy Owl is about twenty- two inches, and that of the 
female twenty-six or twenty-seven. 
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