AMERICAN HAWK OWL 375 



hands; and, while examining it, the soil and grass beneath me gave way, and while 

 attempting to prevent myself from sliding down hill the bird got away from me 

 and flew off. The third example was brought to me by a native. The skin was 

 preserved, but has been lost in some unaccountable manner. * * * 



The natives assert that it is a resident and breeds in the vicinity of St. 

 Michael's; also that it is a coast bird, i. e., not going far into the interior; and that 

 it can live a long time in winter without food, as it remains for days in the pro- 

 tection of the holes about the tangled roots of the willow and alder patches. 



Evidently Turner's specimen was not permanently lost, for Ridg- 

 way (1914) says: "The specimen on which the record was originally 

 based is now before me; and, while it shows as conspicuous white 

 spotting on the pileum as the European and Siberian form, in other 

 characters it seems not to differ from the American bird, and I think 

 it had better be considered an abnormal example of the latter." 



In a later footnote he adds: "It is not unlikely that the Alaskan 

 specimen (from St. Michaels) above referred to may belong to the 

 Eastern Siberian form; indeed Hartert thus places it." 



The 1931 Check-List adds another record of a bird in the collection 

 of Dr. Louis B. Bishop, from "Bethel Island." There is evidently 

 no such place as Bethel Island. Dr. Bishop writes to me that this 

 bird, a male, was collected by A. H. Twitchell, on November 5, 1914, 

 probably near Bethel, Alaska. He tells me that he has compared this 

 bird with specimens of ulula, caparoch, and pallasi and came to the 

 conclusion that it is "far nearest to the Siberian" race, "but the brown 

 is of a slightly paler shade." 



There is a very marked difference between the Old World birds and 

 the American, the European and Siberian races both being much 

 whiter, with much more extensive white spotting on the pileum and 

 nape, and with white predominating on the under parts. But, in 

 the series I have examined, it is difficult to see any great difference 

 between the European and the Siberian races. 



Hartert (1920) admits that the difference is very slight; and Ridg- 

 way (1914) says: "As to the claims of the bird from northeastern 

 Asia to subspecific rank, I am not able, with the very small series 

 available, to see that it differs from the European bird." 



SURNIA ULULA CAPAROCH (MUller) 



american hawk owl 

 Plates 84, 85 



HABITS 



The North American race of this circumpolar species is widely 

 distributed across the continent, breeding throughout the timbered 

 regions of Canada and from Alaska to Newfoundland and wandering 

 in winter into the Northern United States. It is similar to the typical, 

 European race (S. u. ulula), "but coloration much darker, the black 



