The polar and tropical worlds: a description of man and nature in the polar and equatorial regions of the globe . ualplenty for the hungry Laplanders dog. The snowy owl, whose dense plumageenables it to be a constant resident on the tundra, almost exclusively frequentsthose places where lemmings, its favorite food, are to be found ; the buzzardsare constantly active in their destruction ; the crow feeds its young with lem-mings ; and even the poor Lap, when pressed by hunger, seizes a stick, and, ARCTIC LAND QUADRUPEDS AND BIRDS. 43 for want of better game, goes out lemming-hunting, and rejoic
The polar and tropical worlds: a description of man and nature in the polar and equatorial regions of the globe . ualplenty for the hungry Laplanders dog. The snowy owl, whose dense plumageenables it to be a constant resident on the tundra, almost exclusively frequentsthose places where lemmings, its favorite food, are to be found ; the buzzardsare constantly active in their destruction ; the crow feeds its young with lem-mings ; and even the poor Lap, when pressed by hunger, seizes a stick, and, ARCTIC LAND QUADRUPEDS AND BIRDS. 43 for want of better game, goes out lemming-hunting, and rejoices when he cankill a sufficient number for his dinner. Several birds, such as the snowy owl and the ptarmigan {Lruppus alhus),which can easily procure its food under the snow, winter in the highest lati-tudes ; but by far the greater number are merely summer visitants of the Arc-tic regions. After the little bunting, the first arrivals in spring are the snow-geese, who likewise are the first to leave the dreary regions of the north ontheir southerly migration. The common and king eider-duck, the Brent geese,. TUB SNOWY OWL. the great northern black and red throated divers, are the next to make theirappearance, followed by the pintail and longtail ducks {Anas caudacuta andf/lacialis), the latest visitors of the season. These birds generally take theirdeparture in the same order as they arrive. The period of their stay is butshort, but their presence imparts a wonderfully cheerful aspect to regions atother times so deserted and dreary. As soon as the young are sufficientlyfledged, they again betake themselves to the southward ; the character of theseason much influencing the period of their departure. As far as man has penetrated, on the most northern islets of Spitzbergen,or on the ice-blocked shores of Kennedy Channel, the eider-duck and othersof the Arctic anatida? build their nests ; and there is no reason to doubt thatif the pole has breeding-places for them, it re-echoes wi
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, books, booksubjectnaturalhistory
