CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS, 303 



owls October i8th, 1885, in woods at St. Martin Junction, and two 

 others the next year in the same place ; in both cases they were 

 mobbed by crows. Many specimens are taken in the vicinity. 

 (Wintle.) Two individuals observed on Moose river, northern 

 Ontario, June 2nd, 1896. None seen while crossing Ungava. 

 {Spreadbo rough.) A rare resident in the Ottawa district. {Ottawa 

 Naturalist, Vol. V.) This species is generally distributed through- 

 out Ontario and is very variable in colour. (Mcllwraith.) A 

 common breeding species and a resident in the districts of Parry 

 Sound and Muskoka; regular winter resident but rare in summer 

 around Toronto, Ont. ; also in Algonquin park, a few breed. (/. H. 

 Fleming.) On the 29th March, 1897, I took one of these birds whose 

 stomach contained the greater part of a crow, primaries and all. 

 If this powerful rascal is in the habit of paying nocturnal visits to 

 the roosting places of the crows in bad weather it is small wonder 

 that the retaliative instinct asserts itself in daylight. (/. Hughes- 

 Samuel.) Observed three young ones and an old one on the Missi- 

 nabi river, June 20th, 1904. (Spreadborough.) Well distributed 

 throughout the London district ; breeding in large nests in the early 

 spring. (W. E. Saunders.) The typical form occurs in British 

 Columbia as well as every possible intergrade between the darkest 

 saturatus and subarcticus, almost light enough for arcticus. (Brooks.) 

 A discussion of the horned owls of Washington and British Columbia 

 will be found in an article in The Auk, Vol. X., p. 18 (1893). It is 

 probable that all the races of Bubo virginianus are to be found in 

 British Columbia. (Rhoads.) 



Breeding Notes. — When we first came to Muskoka they were 

 very rare, I only observed two in twenty years, but during that 

 time the barred owl was very abundant. Since the horned owl 

 has become common it has almost disappeared and now one sel- 

 dom hears or sees one and the horned has become just as common 

 as the barred used to be. This leads me to think that it has been 

 killed or driven away by the other. The horned owl is not beneath 

 killing a mouse if there is no larger game about but I think 

 hares are its chief food during the winter. It kills a good many 

 skunks in the summer. On one occasion my brothers found one 

 that had seized a skunk which had bitten it so badly that it had 

 died from the wounds. It kills muskrats in the fall when they are 

 building their houses and when they are out upon the marshes 



