“ This small North-Ainericim species,” says Mr. Stevenson, “ was first included among the accidental
visitants to this country by the late Mr. Yarrell, in the third edition o f his ‘ British Birds,’ in which will be
found the notice of a specimen shot in the neighbourhood of Leeds in 1852, o f which a figure and description
were given in the ■ N aturalist ’ for the same year (p. 169). Mr. Gurney informs me that some years back
he purchased from the late Mr. Thurtell an adult specimen o f this rare Owl, said to have been killed near
Yarmouth, but till then supposed to be only a European Scops Owl. This bird was unfortunately destroyed
after it came into Mr. Gurney’s possession.”
Genus N yctea.
Of this form the single species known is exclusively an inhabitant o f the high northern regions of both the
Old and the New World.
41. N yctea n . v e a ...............................................................................................................................Vol. I. PI. XXXIV.
S nowy O w l .
I have always regarded this bird as an accidental visitor to England, Scotland, and Ire lan d ; but Mr. J .
H. Dunn informs me th at forty-five years ago it bred every year on the hills about four miles from Strom-
ness, and Mr. Robert Gray says it may almost be regarded as a regular spring visitant to the Hebrides. Its
great size and powerful claws indicate th at quadrupeds o f considerable bulk are within the compass o f its
destructive powers; and hence the hare, the lemming, white grouse, and the ptarmigan have but little
chance o f escape when once enclosed within the grasp o f its talons. Its proper home is the icebound
regions o f the north ; in Lapland it follows the lemmings in their migration southwards.
“ So little has been published in England,” says Professor Newton, when exhibiting some rare eggs at a
meeting of the Zoological Society (Dec. 10, 1861), “ respecting the Snowy Owl’s manner o f uidification, that
I hold myself excused for presenting the information I have been able to collect on the subject.........................
According to Herr Wallengren, Professor Lilljeborg, on Ju n e 3rd, 1843, found on the Dovrefjeld a nest of
this bird containing seven eggs, placed on a little shelf on the top o f a bare mountain far from the forest and
easy of access. Professor Nilsson mentions, on the authority o f Herr A. G. Nordvi, th at the Lapps in East
Finmark assert that the Snowy Owl lays from eight to ten eggs, iu a little depression on the bare ground on
the high mountains. These accounts were in every way corroborated by the information obtained by Mr.
John Wolley during his long sojourn in Lapland. He several times met with persons who had found nests
of this Owl, and states that he was told the old birds sometimes attack persons that approach their nests.
. . . They seem to breed commonly, in the districts explored by him, only when the lemmings are unusually
abundant. From the 16th to the 24th of May is supposed to be the time when they usually breed; and in
1860 a Lapp, who was unfortunately not one of his collectors, found a nest with six eggs, which, instead
of preserving, he ate.
“ Many specimens, said to be eggs of this bird, have lately been received by European oologists, the
majority of which are from the missionaries in Labrador. One of those I now exhibit I obtained from Herr
Moschler. He received it, with several others, iu 1860, from Okkak, one of the four stations maintained
on the coast by the United Brethren. He has had in all more than two dozen from that quarter. The
Esquimaux find and bring them to the missionaries; and the accounts they give tally exactly with those I
have just quoted from other sources. The bird always breeds on the ground in bare places, and often lays a
considerable number of eggs.”
Genus S u rn ia .
Hitherto the birds of this form inhabiting Northern Europe and the northern parts of America have been
regarded as identical, in which case the genus would consist of a single species; but at a recent meeting of
the Zoological Society, Messrs. Sharpe and Dresser have endeavoured to show that the American bird is
different from the European.
42. S urnia .......................................................................................................... Vol. I. PI. XXXV.
H awk O w l .
Six or seven instances of the occurrence of the Hawk Owl in Britain are on record.
Genus N yctale.
The only member of this genus known to have been found in England is the Nyctale Tcugmalmi, of
Northern Europe and North America.
ao 43. m . . . Vol. I. PI. XXXVI. N yctale I e n g m a l m i ......................................................................................................................
T engmalm’s O w l.
Although Mr. Harting enumerates twenty instances of the occurrence o f this bird in various parts of our
islands, it must still be regarded as a rare and uncertain visitor. Its range extends over Europe and
Northern Asia, as far south as Nepaul; and if, as Mr. Elliot believes, the species known as N . Richardsoni
is identical with it, then the northern and arctic portions of North America must be included within the