114 THE NESTS AND EGGS OF 



Family STRIGTD^. Genus Surnia. 



Sub-family BUBONINyE. 



HAWK OWL. 



Surnia funerea. {Li7zncBus). 



(British : Very rare nomadic winter migrant.) 



Single Brooded. Laying season, latter half of April to end 

 of June. 



Breeding area : Northern Nearctic and Palsearctic 

 regions. The Hawk Owl is divisible into three fairly 

 well-defined races, inhabiting Europe, Siberia, and 

 America respectively, but for the purposes of the present 

 article I have deemed it most expedient to treat them 

 as one. It breeds in the pine forests of Scandinavia 

 and North Russia, occasionally inhabiting the birch 

 woods on the borders of the tundras. It is said to breed 

 as far south in Russia as the Governments of Moscow 

 and Smolensk, and in the Urals as low as Orenburg. 

 East of the Urals it breeds in similar localities across 

 Siberia, south to Northern Turkestan and the Amoor. 

 In the New World it breeds in the Arctic regions from 

 Alaska to Labrador and Newfoundland. 



Breeding habits : The Hawk Owl is practically a 

 resident in its northern forests, only undertaking such 

 nomadic wanderings as scarcity of food may cause. Its 

 favourite breeding grounds are the Arctic pine forests, 

 but it is also partial to the forests of birch, especially in 

 localities where the timber is old and large. It is not a 

 gregarious species at any season, and for the most part 

 lives a solitary life except during the breeding season, 

 when the probably life-mated pair live in closer company. 

 This Owl, at least in the Pahiearctic region, is not known 

 to make any nest, but to deposit its eggs in a hole in a 



