80 The Ottawa Naturalist. | J uly 



body when taken out of the skin and feathers. It is always a 

 matter of surprise to see the small body of all owls as compared to 

 the apparent large bulk of the birds, but the great gray owl 

 beats the other owls, like the barred, great horned and the snowy, 

 all to pieces in this respect. During our last cold season three of 

 these owls, shot near Ottawa, have come to my notice. One was 

 shot last November by a farmer in South March, the second 

 about February ist, near Templeton, Ouebt \ an! the third about 

 the end of March, locality unknown. All three found their way 

 to a local taxidermist, from whom I procured the second one. 

 Being familiar with the small size of owls' bodies, still I was not 

 prepared for anything like this proved to be, when it was pre- 

 pared and mounted. The great gray owl is in appearance our 

 largest owl, it measures in length 25-30 inches, extent (wings 

 spread) 54-60 inches, tail 11-13 inches. Its la.'ge facial disk, 

 much larger than in other owls, heightens the impression of 

 largeness, besides making it appear somewhat solemn, mysterious 

 and uncanny. The body taken out from this owl, i.e. the trunk, 

 without skin, head and wings, measured only, length 6 1-2 in., 

 depth, i.e., from breastbone to back 3 3-8 in., width across 

 thorax 21-2 in., weight 8-10 oz. It was much smaller than 

 the body of the great horned and even barred owls; as large as a 

 half grown ruffed grouse and then not as wide. Of course this 

 specimen was extremely emaciated, but that would not decrease 

 the size of the skeleton. It was so thin as to be transparent 

 in the abdominal region ; of intestines there was not much to be 

 seen and the stomach was empty. It is hard to understand 

 how such a tiny body compared to the bulk cf the bird could keep 

 up the huge wings, heavy claws and enormous head, whose cir- 

 cumference measures 20 inches, the facial disk alone, 6 inches ! 

 There was so little flesh on it, that it did not decay, but only 

 dry up in the winter air. This seems to show also that this owl 

 can eat very little only of a rabbit, if it catches them at all, and 

 it seems much more likely that it confines itself to small birds 

 and small mammals, like mice, for food. No wonder the books 

 express astonishment at the relatively small size of their eggs 

 which are hardly any larger than those of the barred owls, a 

 much smaller bird in appearance. The egg of the latter, as 

 figured in Bendire, measures 2x1-75 in., that of the former 2. 125X 

 1.73 inches. While this seems small when compared with the 

 cogs of birds smaller in appearance, like ducks, grouse, etc., it 



