48 Capt. Blakiston on the Birds of the 



to regard them all as B. virginianus, and to attribute the differ- 

 ences in their colours to variety only, either local or caused by 

 accidental circumstances. With but a single well-characterized 

 specimen of each of the four varieties, the inducement would 

 be strong to regard them as distinct species, so different are their 

 colours ; but with an extended series (thirty specimens) like the 

 present, all the characters exist in such various degrees of modi- 

 fication, and are so blended, that it is to us quite impossible." 

 The two specimens obtained by myself, which differed very 

 considerably in colour, were taken at Fort Carlton, on the north 

 branch, near the forks of the Saskatchawan River, at which lone 

 habitation I spent myfirst winter (1857-58) in thelndian country. 

 The dark-coloured one was trapped during mid-winter by one of 

 the half-breed Hudson's Bay Company's men, in a snare set in 

 the woods for rabbits, or, as I should properly call them, hares 

 [Lepus americanus) . The second was not so easily caught. It 

 was near the end of March, on a stormy day, that I trudged 

 along the side of a narrow wooded ravine, which, opening from 

 the river valley near the fort, runs some distance back into 

 the plain, the general level of which is about 200 feet above 

 the river. I was on my usual ornithological walk, which it 

 was my custom to take daily, in the afternoon, after my share of 

 the labours of magnetical observations was over. As I proceeded, 

 I started a large light-coloured Owl, but having the buffalo-leather 

 cover on my fowling-piece, as is the usual custom of the Indian 

 country, I was not ready for him when he rose. He alighted 

 near the head of the ravine, and I followed ; but, before getting 

 within shot, he started again. From this point a continuous 

 line of clumps of aspens and willows, with clear spaces between 

 them, stretch out on the prairie. Many a long chase have Ow^ls 

 led me at different times, but I think this was one of the longest. 

 As I advanced, Mr. Arcticus (if we may so call him) continually 

 shifted his position further and further along the line of 

 clumps, so that I found it impossible to get within two or three 

 gun-shots of him. At one moment I lost the run of him alto- 

 gether, and was nearly abandoning the chase, when I again espied 

 my friend; but again he changed his position, and dived some, 

 where into the middle of large-sized coppice. I now bethought 



