1)1 North -West Canada. 91 



felt very uneasy, as I did not want to have to stay out all 

 nig-ht for I knew this would alarm them at home, for they 

 often say I shall get killed through climbing trees after 

 hawks' nests. At last the light of a farm house glimmered 

 up before me and on enquiring my way to Toronto found I 

 was seven miles away and that it was after seven o'clock. On 

 reaching home two hours later I found my wife in a state of 

 excitement, wondering what could have befallen me. Two 

 weeks after this I saw another snowy owl perched on a flag- 

 staff over a store in one of our principal streets : a crowd of 

 people were gazing up at it, and those passing in vehicles pul- 

 led up to have a look at the bird ; this was about five o'clock, 

 I passed the place at ten o'clock at night, it was still there 

 but had gone the follownng morning. 



There are three other species of owls that are frequently 

 shot at Rush Lake, viz.: The great grey owl, Richardson's 

 owl, and American hawk owl. All three species breed in the 

 Red Deer river region, and northward to Edmonton, this 

 district being well wooded is suitable to the habits of these 

 species. The great grey owl is connnon on the borders of 

 Great Bear Lake. Dr. Richardson found a nest late in May, 

 it was built in a lofty balsam poplar, and was composed of 

 sticks, with a lining of feathers. It usually lays two or three 

 white eggs, which are not larger than the eggs of the great 

 horned owl. I have a fine specimen that was shot "in the 

 forests north-east of Winnipeg, early in summer. This species 

 is a rare summer resident in the wooded regions around Lake 

 Winnipeg and Manitoba. Richardson's, or Tengmalm's owl 

 inhabits all the wooded country, stretching from Great Slave 

 Lake to Northern Montana. It is also common in the wooded 

 districts bordering the Red River of the north. A clutch of 

 five eggs, collected near Edmonton, May 2nd, 1890, average in 

 size 1.34x1.12 ; they were taken from a nest in a poplar, the 

 nest being made of sticks and lined with leaves. During 

 the spring of 1887, I had a number of clutches of eggs of 

 Tengmalm's owl collected for me in Asia Minor, the number 

 of eggs to a set were four and five, and the nests were all 



