SYRNIUM CINEREUM, GREAT GRAY OWL. 307 



50.— SCL. & .Salv., p. Z. S. 1868, 143 (I]nenos Ayres).— Dat.l & Bann., Tr. Chic. 

 Acad. i. 1869, 273.— Coop., B. Cal. i, 1870, 428.— Stev., U. S. Geol. Surv. Ter. 

 1870, 462.— Snow, B. Ivans. 1873, 2.— Dall, Pr. Cal. Acad. Feb. 1873 (Aleutian 

 Islands). 



c. galapagoensis. 



Brachyoliis fjalapfigooisin, Goi'ld, P. Z. S. 1837, 10. 



Otus (jalapaqomsls, Dauw., Voy. Beagle, iii, 32, pi. 3. — Bp., Consp. Av. i, 1850, 51. — 



Gray, Geu. of B. ; List B. Brit. Mas. 108. 

 Asto galapafjoensis, Stkickl., Orn. Syu. 1855, 211. 



Ilab. — Europe. Asia. Greenland. America. Wqst Indies. Var. galapagoensis from 

 the Galapagos. 



Lieutenant Warrcn^s Expeditio)i. — 4634, Grindstone Creek; 4539, ^Yhite River. 

 Later Expeditions. — 00633, Sweetwater, Wyoming. 



The specific uame of this species is highly appropriate, such is its 

 preference for low, moist, and even swaujpy or niarshy resorts. The 

 ^ greater part of the Missouri region being not particnlarly adapted to 

 ' its wants, it is not so common or so generally ditfnsed in this part of 

 the country as in some other portions. I procured one specimen at 

 Fort Kandall, in the winter of 1872-73. It is, however, one of the few 

 species not confined to woods, but occurring in open [)rairie, sometimes 

 many miles from timbered land. It nests on the ground, laying its eggs 

 either in a bare depression, or upon a few sticks, or feathers, or a little 

 grass. The eggs, usually four or five in number, are dull white, less 

 nearly spherical than usual in this family, and measure about au inch 

 and a half in length by one and a fourth in breadth. But its nesting 

 varies with circnmstances. Mr. Dall recently found it breeding in bur- 

 rows, on the island of Oonalashka; "the hole is horizontal, and the 

 inner end usually a little higher than the aperture; lined with dry grass 

 and feathers." The burrows were not over two feet deep, usually 

 excavated in the side of a stee}) bank. 



Being so generally diffused in this country, it is not a little surprising 

 that Dr. Brewer should have been led to say, in 1857, there was no 

 authentic case of its occurrence, south of Pennsylvania, in the United 

 States. It is decidedly the comn)onest Owl about Washington, D. C, 

 especially in winter. I frequently observed it in the salt-marshes of the 

 North Carolina coast at various seasons, and Mr. Allen records it as 

 quite common in the marshes of Florida. On one occasion I observed a 

 gathering of twenty or thirty individuals on the ('olorado Eiver, below 

 Fort Mojave; others have noted similar instances of its sociable dis- 

 position. The birds wrre sitting (piite closely together in the rank 

 herbage bordering the river; some Happed hurriedly off as the steam- 

 boat came abreast of them, while others stood to their perches as we 

 ])ass('d. In Calilbrnia, Di-. Cooper observes that lie has not seen it 

 soulh ol the 8anta (Mara Valley. It occurs in the West Indies, and the 

 South American form is conspecilic. I am unable to a[)[)reciate any con- 

 stant or tangible differences between the European an(l American bird, 

 although the latter may average slightly larger, and a shade darker. 



SYKNIUM CINEinOUM, (Gm.) Aud. 

 tireat tlray Owl. 



a. cinrrcum. 



Sirix cinerca, Gm., Syst. Nat. i. 1788, 291.— Lath., Ind. Orn. i, 1790. 58 (ba.sed on Sooty 

 Owl, Arct. Zool. ii, 232, No. 120: Cinereous Owl. Syn. Siippl. 45).— Vikii.l., 

 Nonv. Diet, d'llist. Nat. vii, 23 ; Eiie. Melh. iii, 12:^9; Ois. Am. Sept. i, 48.— 

 Bp., Am. Oni. pi. 23; Ann. Lye. N. Y. ii, 436; Inis, ls32, 1140.— Nltt., Man. i, 



