RAPTORES. STRIGIDÆ
TH E SNOWY OWL.
Strix nyctea, Snowy Owl, Mont. Ornith. Diet. Suppt.
B ewick, Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 58,
F lem. Brit. An. p. 58.
Surnia ,, ft tt S elby, Brit. Ornith. vol. i. p. 95.
Noctua ,, >t tt J enyns, Brit. Vert. p. 93.
Surnia ,, tt tt Gould, Birds of Europe, pt. xv.
Strix ,, Chouette Harfang, T emm. Man.d’Ornith. vol.i.
S urnia. Generic Characters.—Head not furnished with tufts of feathers.
Beak curved from the base; nostrils large, oval; cere small. Facial disk
incomplete. Auditory opening small. Wings of moderate size; the third
quill-feather generally the longest. Tail rather long. Legs and toes thickly
covered with feathers ; claws long, curved, and sharp.
T h is beautiful species of Owl, originally described by
Linneus in his Fauna Suecica, was first made known as a
British bird by Mr. William Bullock in 1812, in the summer
of which year that indefatigable collector on visiting the
islands of Orkney and Shetland was told that such a bird had
been seen on the links or rabbit-warren of one of the islands
near the sea-shore, and soon after Mr. Bullock obtained
sight of it himself. This specimen, however, was not procured
on that occasion ; but in the month of September following
he had the gratification of receiving one which had
been killed a few weeks before by Mr. L. Edmonston in
Unst, the most northerly of the Shetland isles. Mr. Bullock
adds, that he had not the smallest doubt the Snowy Owl at
that time remained the whole year in the mountainous precipices
both of that island, and also of the island of Yell, in
the immediate vicinity. “ They are seen there, he said,
“ at the end of the summer, in company with their young,
three or four together: the latter are then brown. Their
flight, which I had several opportunities of observing, was
more light and buoyant than any of the Hawks; but not so
much so as our common Barn Owl. They prey by day on
various animals : one wounded on the Isle of Balta disgorged
a young rabbit whole ; and that now in my possession had in
its stomach a Sandpiper, with its plumage entire.
Recent visitors to the Shetland Islands believe that the
Snowy Owl is only now occasionally to be seen there in
winter. In that season of the year 1812, a fine specimen was
shot at Elsdon in Northumberland. Since that period various
examples have been killed: one in Norfolk in the year
1814, a second in the same county in 1820, two in Northumberland
in 1823. In May 1835, Dr. Neill of Canon-
mills, near Edinburgh, made the following communication to
the conductor of the Magazine of Natural History, vol. viii.
pao-e 508. “ Last week I received from Mr. Scarth, Sanda,