296 GE.OLOGICAL PURVEY OF CANADA. 



districts lying between Lake Superior and lat. 67° or 68°, and between 

 Hudson bay and the Pacific. It is common on the borders of Great 

 Bear lake; and there and in the higher parallels of latitude must 

 pursue its prey during the summer months by daylight. It keeps 

 hmvever, within the woods and does not frequent the barren grounds 

 like the snowy owl. (Richardson.) A rare species; shot at Sumas 

 only. (Lord.) A rare species; I have one specimen, taken at 

 Chilliwack, B.C., in November, 1887; and another that was taken 

 at Stewart lake, B.C., lat. 54°, 1891. (Fannin.) Rare at ChilH- 

 wack; most probably breeds; rare in winter at Lake Okanagan, 

 B.C. (Brooks.) One shot at Vernon, B.C., was mounted by Mr. 

 Pound last year, 1891. (Rhoads.) This fine owl is a common 

 and well known resident throughout all the wooded parts of Alaska 

 from Sitka north to the northern tree limit, and from the vicinity 

 of Bering strait throughout the territory. (Nelson.) This species 

 is a resident of the Yukon valley and was obtained on the coast at 

 Uphim slough, the northern part of the Yukon delta. (Turner.) 

 Reported by Bishop from two or three places in the interior of 

 Alaska. 



Breeding Notes. — I should not say that this owl was in "great 

 abundance" in the Anderson region, as inadvertently stated on 

 page 33, Vol. III. of the Land Birds. We certainly observed very 

 few specimens, and we found but one nest, that referred to in the 

 same paragraph, on the 19th July, 1862, near Lockhart river, on 

 the route to Fort Good Hope. It was built on a spruce tree at a 

 height of about twenty feet, and was composed of twigs and mosses 

 thinly lined with feathers and down. It contained two eggs and 

 two young, both of which had lately died. The female left the nest 

 at our approach and flew to another tree at some distance, where 

 she was shot. (Macfarlane.) 



During the winter of 1895-96 Mr. Dippie and myself received 

 over a dozen of these birds in the flesh that were shot in Alberta. 

 We also received about 50 American hawk owls in the flesh that 

 same winter. Settlers informed me that the whole of Alberta 

 swarmed with owls and they remained until April when all migrated 

 north except one pair of great gray owls which remained and nested 

 in the Red Deer River district, and Mr. Dippie secured the eggs along 

 with the parent which is probably the only record of this bird ever 

 nesting as far south, as its summer home is along Great Bear lake 



