206 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA 61, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



considered it to be fairly common. He heard one at Iliamna 

 Village, July 14 ; heard another at the mouth of Chulitna River, 

 August 6 ; heard one on lower Kakhtul River, September 1 ; and 

 collected an immature bird at the forks of Upper Chulitna River, 

 August 16. He also recorded a specimen taken by McKay near 

 Aleknagik River, August 24, 1881. 



Friedmann (1934) reported six ulnae of a horned owl in mid- 

 dens on Kodiak Island, which could be algistus; but there would 

 be some doubt about this because lagophonus occurs in neighbor- 

 ing areas. Grinnell (1910) recorded lagophonus, an adult male, 

 taken on Kenai by A. Seale, August 5, 1906. Specimens are 

 needed from Kodiak. 



Nyctea scandiaca: Snowy Owl 



Attu: Ah'-vai-ach 



Russian: Sova (Birula) 



Russian, Commander Islands: Sitsch (Stejneger) 



Chukchi: Jakkadlej (Palmen) 



Stejneger remarked that, according to Pallas, the name "sitsch" 

 is applied to Nyctala tengmalmi in Russia proper. 



The snowy owl occurs mostly as a straggler over the Aleutian 

 district. Friedmann (1935) records a specimen taken by Fisher, 

 at Kodiak, in March 1882. Osgood (1904) found a mounted 

 specimen in the trader's store at Nushagak and learned that it 

 was a regular winter visitant there, as well as at Egegik and 

 Becharof Lake. He also mentions specimens taken by McKay on 

 the Mulchatna River and at Lake Aleknagik. These occurrences 

 are not surprising, for the snowy owl nests regularily at Hooper 

 Bay to the north, and we know from the Eskimo that it nests 

 in the interior of Nunivak and Nelson Islands also. 



In 1925, and again in 1936, local residents assured me that the 

 snowy owl occurs in winter about the western end of Alaska Pen- 

 insula and Unimak Island. Dall (1873) observed a number of 

 skins in the possession of people at Unalaska, where it was said 

 to be "resident." Friedmann (1937) found a femur among bones 

 collected in a village site on Little Kiska, and Turner (1886) also 

 obtained a specimen at Unalaska and said that according to the 

 natives it is "only occasionally seen there." He adds that it is 

 quite common on Agattu, where it is a constant resident, but 

 that it rarely visits Attu. On May 8, 1944, Gabrielson saw what 

 appeared to be three immature snowy owls near Sand Point, and 

 he was assured that they occur throughout the year in that area. 



