An egg from Wisconsin, taken by Mr. B. F. Goss, may be considered as about the average in size and color. It is nearly spherical, of a clear bluish-white, and measures 2.30 by 2.00 inches. [Illustration: =38256= ⅓ _Otus wilsonianus._] Nyctea scandiaca, var. arctica, GRAY. AMERICAN SNOWY OWL. _Strix arctica_, BARTRAM, Trav. in Carolina, 1792, p. 285. _Strix nyctea_, (not of LINN.!) VIEILL. Ois. Am. Sept. 1807, pl. xviii.—SWAINS. & RICH. F. B. A. II, 1831, 88.—BONAP. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. II, 36.—WILS. Am. Orn. pl. xxxii, f. 1.—AUD. Birds Am. pl. cxxi.—IB. Orn. Biog. II, 135.—THOMPS. Nat. Hist. Vermont, p. 64.—PEAB. Birds Mass. III, 84. _Surnia nyctea_ (EDMONDST.), JAMES. (ed. WILS.), Am. Orn. I, 1831, 92.—NUTT. Man. p. 116.—KAUP, Tr. Zoöl. Soc. IV, 1859, 214. _Syrnia nyctea_ (THOMPS.), JARDINE’S (ed. WILS.) Am. Orn. II, 1832, 46. _Nyctea nivea_, (GRAY) CASS. Birds Cal. & Tex. 1854, 100.—IB. Birds N. Am. 1858, 63.—NEWTON, P. Z. S. 1861, 394 (eggs).—DRESSER, Ibis, 1865, 330 (Texas!).—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Chicago Acad. I, II, 1869, 273 (Alaska).—COUES, Key, 1872, 205. _Nyctea candida_, (LATH.) BONAP. List, 1838, 6. SP. CHAR. _Adult._ Ground-color entirely snow-white, this marked with transverse bars of clear dusky, of varying amount in different individuals. ♂ (No. 12,059, Washington, D. C., December 4, 1858; C. Drexler). Across the top of the head, and interspersed over the wings and scapulars, are small transversely cordate spots of clear brownish-black, these inclining to the form of regular transverse bars on the scapulars; there is but one on each feather. The secondaries have mottled bars of more dilute dusky; the primaries have spots of black at their ends; the tail has a single series of irregular dusky spots crossing it near the end. Abdomen, sides, and flanks with transverse crescentic bars of clear brownish-black. Wing, 16.50; tail, 9.00; culmen, 1.00; tarsus, 1.90; middle toe, 1.30. Wing-formula, 3, 2=4–5, 1. ♀ (No. 12,058, Washington, D. C., December 4, 1858). Head above and nape with each feather blackish centrally, producing a conspicuously spotted appearance. Rest of the plumage with regular, sharply defined transverse bars of clear brownish-black; those of the upper surface more crescentic, those on the lower tail-coverts narrower and more distant. Tail crossed by five bands, composed of detached transverse spots. Only the face, foreneck, middle of the breast, and feet, are immaculate; everywhere else, excepting on the crissum, the dusky and white are in nearly equal amount. Wing, 18.00; tail, 9.80; culmen, 1.10. Wing-formula, 3=4, 2–1=5. _Young_ (No. 36,434, Arctic America, August, 1863; MacFarlane). Only partially feathered. Wings and tail as in the adult female described, but the blackish bars rather broader. Down covering the head and body dark brownish or sooty slate, becoming paler on the legs.