1906J The Great Gray Owl. 7q 



THE GREAT GRAY OWL. 

 Rev. C. \V. G. Eifrig. 



The great gray owl, (Scotiaptex cinerea) is one of the rarest 

 and most mysterious visitants to this part of Canada. Its move- 

 ments, its coming and going are as eccentric and unfathomable 

 as those of the snowy owl, pine grosbeak, Bohemian waxwing, 

 and others of our true Canadian birds. At the same time it is 

 one of the birds concerning which the least data and observa- 

 tions are available. Its range extends from Lake Superior to the 

 Yukon and from Hudson's Bay to the Pacific Ocean. Here it does 

 not live in open country, in the "barrens," as does the snowy 

 owl, (Nyclea nyclea), but confines its operations to the large, 

 dense forests of the regicn. From here it does not stray far, 

 rarely passing the southern boundary of the Dominion. Mr. Don- 

 ald Gunn states that this owl is to be found summer and winter 

 throughout all the country commonly known as the Hudson Bay 

 Territory. Nor is it abundant even there, in its chosen habitat, 

 as Mr. McFarlane, who has been in the employ of the Hudson 

 Hay Company in the Anderson River district since 1859 or '60, 

 states that he obtained but "very few specimens", although he 

 is a very gifted naturalist and keen observer. No wonder then, 

 that records of their nests are also few and far between. I can 

 find two records only, quoted both in Bendire's Life Histories 

 of North American Birds, and Baird, Brewer and Ridgeway, 

 North American Birds. One nest was found en a 23rd of May, 

 by Dr. Richardson, "on the top of a lofty balsam poplar, compos- 

 ed of sticks with a lining of feathers. It contained three young 

 birds covered with whitish down." The other was found by 

 McFarlane, "on the 19th of July, 1862, near the Lockhart Riv^er, 

 on the route to Fort Good Hope ; it was built on a spruce pine 

 tree at a height of about 20 feet and was composed of twigs and 

 mosses, thinly lined with feathers and down. It contained two 

 eggs and two young both of which had lately died." Their 



food is, according to Mr. Gunn, rabbits and mice, whereas Mr. 

 Dall found in the stomach of one shot in April 20th, in the Yukon, 

 the remains of thirteen redpolls, {Acantliis litiaria). Of nine 

 stomachs examined by Prof. K. Fisher, of Washington, one 

 contained a small bird, seven mice and four other mammals. 



However, the reason for writing this study was not the giving 

 of these data, but rather to record the exceedingly great dispar- 

 ity between the large size of the bird and the smallness of the 



