STRIGID^ — THE OWLS. 33 



what diurnal in its habits, and states that it is especially active toward 

 sunset. 



Dr. Newberry speaks of this Owl as one generally distributed over the 

 western part of the continent, he having met with it in the Sacramento Val- 

 ley, in the Cascade Mountains, in the Des Chutes Basin, and in Oregon, on 

 the Columbia River. jSIr. liobert MacFarlane found it in great abundance in 

 the Anderson Eiver region. On the 19th of July, as we find in one of his 

 memoranda, he met with a nest of this species near Lockhart Eiver, on the 

 route to Fort Good Hope. Tlie nest was on the top of a ])ine-tree, twenty 

 feet from the ground. It contained two eggs and two young, both of which 

 were dead. The nest was composed of sticks and mosses, and was lined 

 thinly with down. The female was sitting on the nest, but left it at his 

 approacli, and flew to a tree at some distance, where she was shot. 



Mr. Donald Gunn writes that the Cinereous Owl is to be found both in 

 summer and in winter throughout all the country commonly known as the 

 Hudson Bay Territory. He states that it hunts by night, preys upon 

 rabbits and mice, and nests in tall poplar-trees, usually quite early in the 

 season. 



A single specimen of this Owl was taken at Sitka by Bischoff, and on the 

 20th of April Mr. Dall obtained a female that had been shot at Takitesky, 

 about twenty miles east of the Yukon, near Nulato. He subsequently ob- 

 tained several specimens in that region. Mr. Dall describes it as very 

 stupid, and easy to be caught by the hand during the daytime. From its 

 awkward motions its Indian name of nuhl-tuhl, signifying " heavy walker," 

 is derived. So far as observed by Mr. Dall, this Owl appeared to feed prin- 

 cipally upon small birds, and he took no less than thirteen crania and other 

 remains of ^giothus linaria from the crop of a single bird. 



Specimens of this Owl have also been received by the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion, collected by Mr. Kennicott, from Fort Yukon and from Nulato ; from 

 Mr. J. McKenzie, Moose Factory ; from J. Lockhart, obtained at Fort Reso- 

 lution and at Fort Yukon ; from J. Flett, at La Pierre House ; from B. R. 

 Ross, at Big Island ; and from Mr. S. Jones and Mr. J. McDougall, at Fort 

 Yukon. These were all taken between February 11 and July 19. 



One of the eggs of this Owl, referred to above in Mr. MacFarlane's note, 

 is in my cabinet. It is small for the size of the bird, and is of a dull soiled- 

 white color, oblong in shape, and decidedly more pointed at one end than 

 at the other. It measures 2.25 inches in length by 1.78 in breadth. The 

 drawing of an egg of this species, made by Mr. Audubon from a supposed 

 specimen of an egg of this species, referred to in the " North American 

 Oology," and which measured 2.44 by 2.00 inches, was probably a sketch of 

 the egg of the Snowy Owl. 



VOL. III. 



