Western Horned Owl 209 



Description. — Adult — General colour above mottled with black, 

 dusky and white, with a varying amount of tawny intermixed ; ear- 

 tufts large and conspicuous ; tail and wing markings in ntore or less 

 well-developed bands ; below, a white patch on the throat, upper- 

 breast irregularly blotched with black and tawny on white ; posteriorly 

 white with narrow transverse bands of dusky, often washed and tinged 

 with tawny ; legs white to pale tawny, hardly marked ; facial disk 

 yellowish bordered by black. The variation in the amount of tawny 

 and black is very considerable, but the bird is always less tawny than 

 the eastern type ; iris yellow, bill and claws black. Length 21 ; wing 

 14 ; tail 8-5 ; culmen -8 ; tarsus 2 •80. 



Some observers believe that two subspecies can be distinguished in 

 Colorado. There is certainly a great deal of variation in the plumage 

 of individiials, but whether it is possible to discriminate two distinct 

 forms seems very doubtful. Recently Aiken has received from the 

 Fountain Valley a pair of Owls killed with one shot, so that they 

 certainly appeared to be mated. Those two individuals seem to 

 represent the two extreme types of the tawny and dusky phases, as 

 I prefer to regard them. 



Distribution. — Western North America, from British Columbia and 

 Manitoba south to the Mexican tableland. 



In Colorado the Horned Owl is a fairly common resident, breeding 

 over nearly the whole of the State from the plains up to timber line, 

 according to Drew, and wandering up to 13,000 feet in the fall ; the 

 highest definite record I have met with is 10,000 feet, in the Wet 

 ]Mountains (Lowo). 



Other localities are : Near Denver, breeding (Rockwell, see Plate 6), 

 El Paso CO. (Aiken coll.) and Baca co., breeding (Warren), in the 

 lains ; Estes Park (Kellogg), Boulder co., breeding (Gale), Crested 

 Butte (Warren) and Wagon Wheel Gap (Aiken coll.), in the mountains ; 

 Mesa CO. (Rockwell) and La Plata co. (Morrison), on the western slope. 



Habits. — ^This is the largest Owl found commonly in 

 Colorado. It prefers wooded districts in the plains — 

 chiefly the cotton-wood groves along the rivers ; in the 

 mountains, the thickets along the bottoms of the valleys. 

 Each pair appears to have its own particular range, 

 beyond which it seldom strays. It has a loud, guttural 

 note, " Whaugh-hoo-hoo." It is destructive to game- 

 birds and water-fowl, and also preys largely on rabbits 

 and prairie-dogs, as well as the smaller rodants. In 

 settled districts it often catches an unwary fowl. 



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