GREAT HORNED OWL. 235 



His visits to the farm-house are well understood, and if followed 

 by disaster, it is usually to the poultry, or to the liird himself, if the 

 farmer's boys can so arrange matters. He is of a most savage and 

 untamalile nature, excelling any of the owls in strength and ferocity. 

 If brought to trial in Ontario, he would undoubtedly be condemned 

 to be killed off at once, on account of his depredations in the hen 

 roost and dove cot ; but we are told that in some parts of the west, 

 where rabbits are so numerous that it is next to impossible to l)ring 

 to maturity any large proportion of the crops, the Great Horned Owl 

 feeds on this destructive rodent, almost to the exclusion of other 

 food, and thus becomes a most valuable ally to the farmer. On this 

 account he has been placed in Class c, among those birds whose good 

 and eA'il deeds are about equal. 



On account of the variation in size and plumage, according to the 

 region they inhabit, the American Ornithologists' Union Committee 

 records three sub-species of the Great Horned Owl emanating from the 

 original Bubo virginianns. These Mr. Ridgway describes as follows : 



37'irt. Bidio n'rgiiiiaiiKs .•niharrtlcU'-' — Western Horned Owl. (General aspect 

 of phimage : above, grayish, with more or less of butty admixture, dark 

 markings of lower parts distinct. 



Hab. — Western United States (except north-west coast), eastward across 

 great plains, straggling to northern Illinois, Wisconsin an<l Western Canada, 

 north to Manitoba, south over table-lands of Mexico. 



375?>. Biiho rh-ijiiiiaiuis arcficii-i — Arctic Horned Owl. (General aspect of 

 plumage : al)Ove, white thi-ough fading of the ground color and i-estriction of 

 dark markings ; Ijeneath, pure white with <lark markings, usually much 

 restricted. 



H.4B. — Arctic America, chiefly in the interior, south in winter to northern 

 Rocky Mountains and (ireat Plains, Dakota, Montana, etc. 



375f. Bubo viriiiniainit taturaiii'y — Dusky Horned Owl. Extremely dark- 

 colored ; the face, usually sooty brownish, mixed with gra\ish-white ; the 

 plumage, usuallj' without excess of ochraceous or tawny, sometimes w^ith none. 



Hab. — North-west coast from Oregon north to Alaska, Labrador. 



The common form in 8outliern Ontario is the original Bubo virgin- 

 ianus, but I have also had one or two which answer the description 

 given of the western variety, and several apparently intermediate. 

 From Manitoba I have one as white as a female 8nowy Owl, and from 

 the dense forests of British Columbia I have several which are \evy 

 dark. All of these varieties ar.e smaller than the typical species, the 

 best developed specimens of which are found farther south. A full 

 plumaged female of Bubo virginianu!< is a very handsome bird, rich 

 in markings, and the strongest and fiercest of all the Amei'ican owls, 

 a i^erfect flying tiger when loose among the game or poultr}-. 



