306 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 



Recorded by Bishop from many places in Yukon and Alaska, 

 and reported by Osgood to be common in the parts of Alaska tra- 

 versed by him in 1902. 



Breeding Notes. — September i8th, 1884; Portage la Prairie: 

 Mr. C. W. Nash gives me a very interesting note on a pair of horned 

 owls that had nested in the woods here, and from the indications 

 observed there seems little doubt that they subsist chiefly on fish, 

 which were abundant in a small creek running from a lake through 

 these woods to the Assiniboine river. On examining the gizzards 

 of two of the young of this pair which Mr. Nash shot, he found them 

 full of fish. At one place there were, unquestionably, evidences of 

 an owl having seized a large fish with one foot and held on to the 

 bank with the other. The creek being very small, and surrounded 

 with large bare trees, is a favourite run between the river and the 

 lake for large fish at night, so that all the circumstances are very 

 favourable for the prosecution of the piscatorial pursuits of the owls. 

 On the 8th May, 1884, I found a pair of these birds in possession of 

 an old nest in the Big Swamp on the Assiniboine river, south of 

 Big Plain. This nest was about 30 feet from the ground, in the 

 crotch of a poplar tree, which was as yet without leaves. The nest 

 was formed of sticks and twigs and was indistinguishable from that 

 of a red-tailed buzzard. Once or twice I tried to shoot the old bird on 

 the nest, but she was too wary, and evidently had all her wits about 

 her even in the day time. (E. T. Seton.) 



As early as 20th March, 1892, at Indian Head, Sask., a pair of 

 these birds was nesting. On May 24th I visited the nest and took 

 the two young birds home with me. They soon became quite tame 

 and would allow me to stroke them, and although they often pecked 

 my hands they never were able to draw blood. They seem to have 

 little power with their beak. By July 7th they were as large as the 

 old ones. It depends very much on their food how often they eject 

 pellets. If fed on chopped gophers, skins and all, they would eject 

 about five times a week, if on the bodies of birds that had been 

 skinned, about three times a week. On June 3rd found a nest with 

 two very young ones. Their eyes were not open yet, and they 

 seemed only about five days old. On the 7th one opened its eyes 

 and on the loth the other one. They were quite white when very 

 young and altogether without ear tufts. Their eves are very small 



