348 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



doubtless a winter migrant only. In addition to the type, two others 

 about typical and five more, variously intermediate with subarcticus, 

 were taken in that general region. Dr. Bishop thought that it might 

 breed east of the coast range in northern British Columbia, near where 

 the ranges of lagophonus and subarcticus approximate; and he now 

 tells me that H. S. Swarth since found it breeding there. 



BUBO VIRGINIANUS OCC1DENTALIS Stone 



montana horned owl 



Plate 78 



HABITS 



Contributed by Milton Philo Skinner 



I should call the Montana horned owl rather unsuspicious, at least 

 in such a place as the Yellowstone National Park where I knew it 

 best. Sometimes I would see them watching me as I rode past them 

 on horseback. Apparently they were attracted by lights, perhaps 

 through curiosity, for I would frequently see them by the headlight 

 of my auto, acting in such a way as to indicate that the light itself 

 was an attraction. Several times I have had them visit my camp 

 and circle about, above the campfire, or alight in a nearby tree. 



Lewis and Clark killed a Montana horned owl in western North 

 Dakota on April 14, 1805, probably the first one of this subspecies to 

 be secured by a white man. Later, others found them rather common 

 in many places. Williams (1926) says they were still quite numerous 

 in North Dakota at that time. 



Spring.— Over much of their range Montana horned owls do not 

 migrate. In the Yellowstone Park most of them usually disappear in 

 October and return in March. But this park is all high, mountainous 

 country, and the movement is more or less forced by deep snows and 

 lack of food. Probably these birds, in such regions, move up and 

 down with the seasons, without its being an actual migration. 



Nesting. — The Montana horned owls in Colorado, Wyoming, and 

 Idaho, at least, often make their nests inside of old magpie nests, and 

 still oftener lay their eggs on the tops of these bulky balls of twigs. 

 Bergtold (1928) says they breed up as high as 11,000 feet above sea 

 level in Colorado. And Sclater (1912) says: "In Colorado the Horned 

 Owl is a fairly common resident, breeding over nearly the whole of 

 the State from the plains up to timber line, according to Drew, and 

 wandering up to 13,000 feet in the fall." 



One pair had a nest on an old magpie nest, 20 feet above ground, in 

 a grove of cottonwood trees about 3 miles east of Aurora, Colo., 

 according to Leon Kelso (1929a), in 1925, and in similar places nearby 

 in 1926 and 1927. These nests were in rather a public place, but the 



