328 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Voice. — The characteristic solemn, deep-toned hooting of the west- 

 ern horned owl is very much like that of the eastern subspecies. 

 Usually it is sounded in the evening and early in the morning but 

 sometimes during the daylight hours as well. Whenever a nest is 

 disturbed, both owners are apt to voice their protests in a series of 

 hoo, hoo, hoo-oo's from some nearby tree or other elevated perch. 



Enemies. — I have often been directed toward one of these owls by 

 the long-crested jays, the hubbub raised by a mob of these smaller 

 birds being almost unbelievable. Although this sport seems safe 

 enough in daylight, I have no doubt that the owls can, and do, cap- 

 ture many a daytime tormentor at night. But why should these 

 tormenting jays be safe during the day? The owls are able to see, 

 and there appears to be no real reason why they could not turn the 

 tables then as well as after dark. 



Winter. — Howell (1916) says for Tucson, Arizona: "I am sure that 

 the residents [owls] of the region must be augmented during the cold 

 weather by numbers which have come down from the mountains. 

 L. S. Wylie, on the boundary of whose chicken ranch we camped, 

 * * * is much bothered by these owls. He states that one will 

 alight on a branch where a chicken is roosting. The latter will 

 awaken and shriek, but is too scared to move. The owl then sidles 

 along and grabs the fowl by the neck." Possibly the killing of chick- 

 ens, and also of game birds, may be greater during winter, when so 

 many rodents are either under the snow or hibernating. 



BUBO VIRGINIANUS SUBARCTICUS Hoy 



ARCTIC HORNED OWL 



HABITS 



A very pale race of the horned owl, sometimes almost as white as 

 some snowy owls, inhabits the more northern timbered regions of 

 Canada, as far south as central Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, 

 where it intergrades with occidentalis. Breeding birds that we col- 

 lected in southwestern Saskatchewan were intermediate. All three 

 of the adults we collected are very light colored, particularly above, 

 where they are fully as light as the average and almost as light as the 

 lightest subardicus. On the under parts, however, there is more 

 ochraceous and less pure white than there should be. The legs and 

 feet are somewhat clouded with pale ochraceous, and the legs are 

 faintly barred with dusky. In typical subardicus the legs and feet 

 should be pure white. 



Nesting. — The only nest I have ever found that might possibly be 

 referable to this race was discovered near Crane Lake, Saskatchewan, 

 on June 5, 1905, from which one of the adults, referred to above, and 

 one of the young were collected. We were exploring a breeding rook- 

 ery of great blue herons in the timber along Skull Creek, when we 



