152 NATURAL HISTOKY COLLECTIONS IX ALASKA. 



Mr. Brewster has receutly made a careful examination of a large series of tbese owls iu 

 connection with the other North American races of ^cojis, and gives the following diagnosis of 

 Jcennicotfii, which we quote from the Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club for Januarj', 1882: 



Descrijition. — "Wings, 6.40 to 7.60; Dicliromatic, assuming either a gray or a tawny-brown conditiou. Gray pbase 

 similar to that of a«Jo, but with the plumage beneath thickly barred and streaked along the median line. Brown 

 phase characterized by a general dusky-umber or tawny-oehraeeous coloring unlike that of any other North American 

 form." 



In a footnote Mr. Brewster states that the small quadrate spots on the primaries and the 

 indistinct tail-bands, formerly held as diagnostic, are variable, and have no varietal significance. 



Bubo viRGiNiANrs srEAECTicrs (Hoy). Western Homed Owl (Esk. Miigd- 

 pcTi-Hl-h). 



Throughout the entire wooded part of Northern Alaska the present bird is found, extending 

 its range in autumn to the open treeless shore along Bering Sea and portions of the Arctic coast. 

 Ill several instances at Saint Michaels I found them perched on our wood pile in the evening, late 

 in autumn, and saw others, now and then, using for a lookout the upright stacks of drift-wood we 

 had placed above high-tide mark for winter use. When traveling at night along the Yukon iu 

 midwinter I have frequently heard the hollow notes of these owls echoing from the black recesses 

 of the spruce forests which wall iu the river dowu to within a hundred miles or so of its mouth. 

 J'his sound, with the sharp bark of a fox, or the much rarer cry of a hare as it is caught by a 

 lynx, or, rarer still, the long-drawn howl of a wolf, are the only noises that greet the ear of the 

 weary traveler. We may add, however, the monotonous squeaking of the sledges over the snow 

 and the grinding sound of the snow-shoes, forming a continuous undertone. At last motion be-' 

 comes mechanical, and with dim, half-closed eyes we keep our course, while everything visible iu 

 the immediate vicinity appears to assume fantastic shapes; the broad white surface of the river 

 appears to rise like a wall before us, and the two black spruce-grown banks form arms that stretch 

 out on either hand and beckon to us with a wavering motion. As the darkness becomes more and 

 more intense a deep silence falls upon the scene, and iu a waking trance our miuds wauder back 

 to distant firesides where gather those we love; familiar faces take form, and the companionship 

 of friends thousands of miles away is ours until, breaking iu upon the reverie, comes the loud 

 hoohoo-ho-oo of this self-appointed guardian of these wilds. With a start we again become con- 

 scious of our surroundings. The river stretches out interminably, and the banks appear to draw 

 back as we advance. Ere long, however, a distant howl is heard; the dogs prick up their ears 

 and start off at a trot, and in the midst of a confused howling and shouting we make our grand 

 entrance into a town composed, perhaps, of two or three underground huts filled with people and 

 dogs. 



It is upon occasions like this that the traveler is likely to make the acquaintance of these 

 owls. When the winter draws on and duriugthe famine period just before the spring opens it is 

 common for them to get a foot into a fox-trap while they are foraging for food. Again, in early 

 June, as the fur traders come dowu the Yukon with their furs, they not infrequently bring the 

 half-grown young of these birds as pets, and by such means a number of the young reached me 

 at various times. 



Near Fort Y^ukou Kennicott found them breeding on April 10, and describes the nest as a 

 very large structure made of dry spruce branches placed in a spruce tree standing amid a dense 

 growth of other trees of its kind. This date, however, is probably somewhat earlier than usual, 

 as would appear from the size of the young which I have seen brought to the seacoast by the 

 fur traders, which were not half grown by the middle of June. Strangely enough this form 

 extends not only through Northern Alaska but through the northwestern portion of British 

 America, and thence down along the Eocky Mountains and along the Sierras to California, where 

 specimens occur which are identical with those farther north. 



I have a bird in my collection secured in Northern Illinois which is exactly like some Alaskan 

 examples and it is found over all the intervening country iu winter. The Great White-horned Owl 

 {arcticufi) of the Hudson's Bay region and thence north is a race which is apparently very similar 



