312 SURNIA ULULA VAR. IIUDSONIA, HAWK OWL. 



1831, 92.— Ntttt., Man. i, 1832, 115.— Peak., Rep. Oni. Mass. 83.-BiiEW , ed. 



Wils. 686.— TlioMi's., Vermont, G4.—Ari>., Orn. Biog. iv, 350, pi. :'.78.— DeKay, 



N. Y. Zool. lf^44, pi. 9, tig. 19. 

 Siirnia fuiierea, DvMiiuu., Zool. Anal. 1806, 34.— Bp., List, 1836, 6.— Jai!D.. ed. Wils. ii, 



270; Br. B. i, 514.— Aui>., Syn. 18:-9, -^1 ; B. Am. i, 1840, 112, pi. 27.— DiiESS. & 



SiiAUPE, B. Eur. pt. xii, Aug. 1872 (North America ami Great Biitaiu). 

 Noctiia (Sitni'uc) fiiiicrca, Jexyns, Man. Br. Vert. 52(5. 

 Sijriiia fnnerea. MaC(UI.., Hi.st. Brit. Birds, iii, 1H40, 404 {-fide Du. «fe Sh.). 

 yodtta ftnierta. Yaki!KLL, Hi.st. Brit. Buds, i, 1843, 139 {Jide Du. & Sii.). 

 Strix caparocb, Mullkk, Svst. Nat. Suppl. 1779, i, 69. 

 Strix hudmnia. Gm.. Syst. Nat. i, 1788, 295.— Wils., Am. Orn. vi, 1812, 64, pi. 50, fig. 6 



(Philadelphia). 

 Surnia hudmtna, Jameson, ed. Wils. i, 90. 

 Suruia hormlis, Lessox, Trait<5 d' Orn. i, 1831, 100. 



Stfix uhda of authors, partly ; excluding Coniinental European references. 

 Surnia nliila, Cass., 111. 1854, 191 (excl. part of the synonymy). — Bkew., N. A. Ool. 1857, 



80 (excl. part of svns.).— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 64 (excl. pt. syn.).— Wheat.., Ohio 

 Agric. Rep. 1860, No. 29.— Hoy, Tr. Wise. Agric. 8oc. 1852 ; Fr. Phila. Acad. ]85fJ 

 (Wisconsin).— Boaud., Pr. B. Soc. ix, 1862, 123 (Calais, Me., breeding). — Veur., 

 Pr. Ess. Inst, iii, 1862, 144 (Maine, autumn and winter). — Allex, ibid, iv, 1864, 



81 (Massachusetts).^MclLi.\VR., ibid, v, 1866, 8<; (Hamilion, C. W., rare in win- 

 ter).— Coues, ibid. V, 1868, 261 (New England).— La wu., Ann. Lye. N. Y. viii, 

 1866,281 (New York, rare).— Samuels. B. New Engl. 186'7, 80 ; Rep. Agric. Mass. 

 1863, App. — CooPEU apnd Samuels, 81 (Qneoec, winter). — Allen, Am. Nat. iii, 



. 1870, 569 (Massachusetts).— TURNB., B. E. Pa. 1869, 41 (occasional in severe 

 winters). — Coop., B. Cal. i, 1870, 448 (not found in California). — Dale & Bann 

 Tr. Chic. Acad, i, 1869, 274 (Alaska, verv common, breeding). — Meku., U. S. 

 Geol. Surv. Ter. 1872, 696. 

 Surnia tilida var. hiidsoiiia, Coues, Key, 1872, 205.— B. B. & R., N. A. B. iii, 1874, 75. 



ifrt&.— Northern North America. Breeds from Maine northward. In winter occa- 

 sionally south to Pennsylvania and Illinois (Bidf/ivaij, Ann. Lye. N. Y. x, 1874, 379). 

 Bermudas (iJnimmoiid, Jardine, Contr. Orn. 1850, 37). Not yet observed west ot the 

 Rocky Mountains. " Great Britain." Typical idula European. 



Later Expeditions. — 62240, Madison River, Montana. 



Contrary to the opinion entertained by ornithologists, of the absolute identity of the 

 American and European Hawk Owls, they prove to form two distinguishable geo- 

 graphical races, the American bird being recognized without dithcnlty by its darker 

 color, and the broader reddish-brown bars of the whole breast and belly, only a small 

 gorget being left white. According to the authors of the splendid work on the Birds 

 of Europe, from which a part of the foregoing synonymy is borrowed, it is the American 

 form, and not that of Continental Europe, which inhabits Great Britain, apparently to 

 the entire exclusion of the other. 



The distribution of the American Hawk Owl is quite fully worked out 

 in a communictitiou I had the pleasure of coiitriburing to the work just 

 mentioned, and niaj' be gathered with approximate accuracy from the 

 foregoing quotations. Tbe bird does not appear to ever wander so far 

 south as the Snowy Owl frequently does ; excepting the Bermuda in- 

 stance, I have never heanl of it south of Pennsylvania and Illinois, nor 

 has it been observed west of the liocky Mountains. It is common in 

 the northern half of New England, in winter, and known to breed in 

 some piirts of Maine; fiom Massachusetts southward its occurrence is 

 rare and fortuitous. 



As is well known, this species is the most diurnal in its habits of nwy 

 of the family, retiring to rest at night like an ordinary bird; and it is 

 the most hawk-like Owl, not only in its htibits, but in i)hysical aspect. 

 It feeds chiefly u[)on the field-mice {Arvicola') wliich swarm in the s[)h;jg- 

 nous vegetation of arctic lands; also upon small birds, grassho[)pers and 

 other insects. It is stated to breed oftenest in the hollows ot trees, but 

 sometimes to construct a nest of sticks, grass, ttnd feathers, among tbe 

 branches. The eggs range from five to eight in number, are white, and 

 measure from 1| to 1^ in k^ugth by 1^ to i| in breadth. Both sexes in- 

 cubate. The parents are represented as very spirited in the dei'ence of 

 their home : the male bird w ill even attack and wound an intruder with 



