SNOWY OWL. 
117 
both continents ; being common in Iceland, the Shetland 
islands, Kamtschatka, Lapland, and Hudson’s Bay. In 
these dreary wilds, surrounded by an almost perpetual 
winter, he dwells, breeds, and obtains his subsistence. 
His white robe renders him scarcely discernible from the 
overwhelming snows, where he reigns, like the boreal 
spirit of the storm. His loud, hollow, barking growl, 
’ wJiowh , ’ whowh , ’ whowh , hall, liah , hah , hah* and 
other more dismal cries, sound like the unearthly ban of 
the infernal Cerberus ; and heard amidst a region of cheer- 
less solitude, his lonely and terrific voice augments rather 
than relieves the horrors of the scene. 
Clothed with a dense coating of feathers, which hide 
even the nostrils, and leave only the talons exposed, he 
ventures abroad boldly at all seasons, and like the 
Hawks seeks his prey by day-light as well as dark, skim- 
ming aloft, and reconnoitring his prey, which is com- 
monly the White Grous or some other birds o£ the same 
genus, as well as hares. On these he darts from above, 
and rapidly seizes them in his resistless talons. At times 
he watches for fish, and condescends also to prey upon 
rats, mice, and even carrion. 
It is very rare that this species leaves its dreary do- 
main to penetrate even into the north of Europe. They 
appear to have a natural aversion to settled countries ; for 
which reason, perhaps, and the still greater severity of 
the climate of arctic America, they are frequently known 
to wander in the winter south through the western thinly 
settled interior of the United States, as far even as the 
the confines of Florida. They migrate probably by pairs; 
and, according to Wilson, two of these birds were so 
stupid, or dazzled, as to alight on the roof of the court- 
* These latter syllables with the usual quivering sound of the Owl. 
