ONTARIO 



Genus ULULA Cuvier. 



151. ULULA CINEREA (Gmel.). 370. 



Great Gray Owl. 



Above, cinereous-brown, mottled in waves with cinereous white ; below, 

 these colors rather paler, disposed in streaks on the breast, in bars elsewhere ; 

 quills and tail with five or six darker and lighter bars ; the great disk 

 similarly marked in regular concentric rings. An immense owl, one of the 

 largest of all, much exceeding any other of this country. Length, 2^ feet ; 

 wing, ij ; tail, a foot or more 



Hab. Arctic America, straggling southward, in winter, to the northern 

 border of the United States. 



Nest, in trees, composed of sticks and twigs, lined with moss and a few 

 feathers. 



Eggs, 3 to 4 ; not quite round, white. 



This beautifully marked and solemn-looking bird is usually 

 described as the largest of North American Owls, but it can 

 only be regarded so by measurement, as in weight, strength 

 and ferocity it is inferior to either the Snowy or the Great 

 Horned Owl. The lengthy tail, and the long loose feathers with 

 which its body is densel)" clothed, gives it the appearance of a 

 very large bird of prey, but when closely examined, the legs, 

 claws and bill are smaller and weaker than those of either of 

 the two species named. 



The Great Gray Owl is said to be more northern in its 

 range than even the Snowy Owl. In Southern Ontario it is a 

 casual visitor in the winter only. I have had two individuals 

 brought to me which were got near Hamilton, and have seen 

 several in the hands of other parties. During the present 

 wmter I saw one which was sent down from Muskoka, where 

 it was shot in the woods in the month of December. 



Genus NYCTALA Brehm. 



NYCTALA TENGMALMI RICHARDSONI (Bonap.). 



152. Richardson's Owl. 371. 



Upper-parts, grayish-brown, tinged with olive ; feathers of the head and 

 neck spotted with white ; scapulars, quills and tail also with white spots ; 



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