SNOW OWL. 
49 
The colour of this bird is well suited for concealment, 
while roaming over the general waste of snows ; and its flight 
strong and swift, very similar to that of some of our large 
Hawks. Its hearing must be exquisite, if we judge from the 
largeness of these organs in it ; and its voice is so dismal, 
that, as Pennant observes, it adds horror even to the regions 
of Greenland, by its hideous cries, resembling those of a man 
in deep distress. 
The male of this species measures twenty-two inches and a half 
in length, and four feet six inches in breadth ; head and neck, 
nearly white, with a few small dots of dull brown interspersed; 
eyes, deep sunk, under projecting eyebrows, the plumage at 
their internal angles, fluted or prest in, to admit direct vision; 
below this it bristles up, covering nearly the whole bill ; the 
irides are of the most brilliant golden yellow, and the counte- 
nance, from the proportionate smallness of the head, projec- 
tion of the eyebrow, and concavity of the plumage at the 
angle of the eye, very different from that of any other of the 
genus; general colour of the body, white, marked with 
lunated spots of pale brown above, and with semicircular 
dashes below ; femoral feathers, long, and legs covered, even 
over the claws, with long shaggy hair-like down, of a dirty 
white ; the claws, when exposed, appear large, much hooked, 
of a black colour, and extremely sharp pointed ; back, white; 
tail, rounded at the end, white, slightly dotted with pale 
brown near the tips ; wings, when closed, reach near the 
extremity of the tail; vent-feathers, large, strong shafted, 
and extending also to the point of the tail; upper part of the 
breast and belly, plain white ; body, very broad and flat. 
The female, which measures two feet in length, and five 
feet two inches in extent, is covered more thickly with spots 
of a much darker colour than those on the male ; the chin, 
throat, face, belly, and vent, are white; femoral feathers 
white, long, and shaggy, marked with a few heart-shaped 
spots of brown ; legs, also covered to the claws with long 
white hairy down ; rest of the plumage white, every feather 
spotted or barred with dark brown, largest on the wing-quills, 
VOL. II. D 
