>7-
SNOWY.
O.
DasctlJ-TION.
* * W i t h S M O O T H H E A D S .
Strix nydlea, Lin. Syji. i. p. I32. ]\to g,
-*•*— Scop. Ann. i. p. 20«
Le Chathuantde la Baye de Hudfon, Brif. orn. i. p. 5z2. N° 8.
Le Harfang, Buf. tif. i. p. 3gy.
r ------- PI. enl. 458#
Hibou blanc d’lflande, And. Hijl. fljl. fcf Qro. i. p. 8c. t. « *.
Great White Owl, Edw. ii. t. 61.
Snowy Owl, Am. Zool. N°
Br. Mu/. Lev. Mu/.
M R ' ^ ^ A P B S ’s defcription is the one from whence the
others are taken; who fays, that it rather exceeds the Great
Eagle Owl in fize, but the head is not fo big in proportion.
The bill in this fpecies is black, and almoft hid in the feathers:
the rrides yellow; the whole plumage is white as fnow, but the
upper part of the head is marked with fmall brown fpots, and
the upper part of the back tranfverfely marked with narrow lines
o f brown, as are the fides under the wings, but lighter • the
quills are white, fpotted alfo with brown, as are the tail-feathers,
except the outer ones, which are of a pure white: the legs are
covered to the toes with white feathers: the claws are black.
This fpecies is fometimes feen quite white, and is found in the
northern parts of both Europe and America, in Sweden, Iceland, and
Hudftnts Bay, and fometimes, though rarely, in Penfyhania. '
In America We are told that it continues the whole year- that
” ,?7 S hl * * 35 Wdl 35 " ight- It>s chief food * the Ptarmigan,
called in North America the White Partridge.
* The figure incorreft.
Strix
O W L .
Strix nebulofa, Ph. Tran/, vol. lxii. p. 424,
Grey O w l , ----------------------— p. 386.
Barred Owl ? Am. Zool. N°
Br. Mu/. Lev. Mu/.
^TTHIS is a large bird, being not much inferior in fize to the
laft.— According to B r. Forfter, who has given a defcription
in the Philofophical TranfaUions above quoted, it weighs three
pounds; is in length fixteen inches, and in breadth four feet.
The bill is -of a pale aih-colour: the irides yellow ; the fore
part of the feathers which furround the face are plain light alh:
the back parts a little fpotted with brown ; the head, neck,
breaft, back, and wing-coverts, brown, fpotted with white, but,
on a narrow infpeftion, each feather is marked with three or four
alternate bars o f brown and white : the head, neck, and breaft, have
moft white in them, and the other parts abound moft in brown:
the greater quills are barred with lighter and deeper brown, and on
the outer edges of fome of them are white or very pale fpots, in
place of the light brown : the fecondaries are alternately banded
with paler and deeper brown, the darker brown occupying moft
fpace: tail banded brown and whitifh, the tip of the laft colour ;
belly and vent dirty white; the firft with longitudinal ferruginous
brown ftreaks; the laft tranfverfely barred with the fame colour:
the legs are pale, and feathered to the claws, which are brown.
Inhabits Hudfon s Bay.— The above was defcribed from a fpe-
cimen in my own pofleffion, which meaftired twenty-otie inches in
length*.— Br. Forfter, I believe, is the firft who has mentioned it.
Br. Muf.
* Sir A. Lever's Tpecimen 'differs from mine, in having the bars in the tail
ravre numerous, and the fpots on the upper parts of the body of a larger fize,
9 and
* .33
18.
*■ BARRED
O.
D eicrip tioh,
Placi.