264 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



while by late January or early February they are usually all 

 gone. 



They are said to nest on the ground in Arctic regions, the 

 nest being a mere hollow lined with a little grass situated on 

 a hummock in the mossy tundras. Three to ten pure white 

 eggs are said to be laid in late May or June and the average 

 measurement is said to be 2.24 x 1.77. 



A large number of stomachs of birds taken in Maine were 

 examined by me and all were practically empty, containing 

 a few fragments of moss and lichens except in one case where 

 I was able to straighten out and identify eight or nine 

 feathers which were most certainly the feathers from the 

 neck of a Brown Leghorn Hen. There is no doubt but that 

 this species will feed on almost any of the smaller mammals, 

 game birds, poultry and similar available material, it seems 

 quite probable that a scarcity of food is responsible for their 

 appearance in Maine and the other states in numbers. 



Genus SURNIA Dumeril. 



877a. Sumia ulula caparoch (Mull.). American Hawk 

 Owl; Day Owl. 



Plumage : above dark grayish brown, spotted on head and hind neck and 

 barred on back and tertials with white ; tail with interrupted whitish bars ; 

 below more or less white, streaked on sides of neck and upper breast and 

 barred on lower breast and belly with fuscous. Wing 8.75 to 9.30. Outer 

 tail feathers much shorter than inner ones. 



Geog. Dist. — Arctic America, breeding from Newfoundland northward ; in 

 winter south to the more northern states and occasionally to Pennsylvania. 



County Records. — Androscoggin ; rare winter visitor, (Johnson). Aroos- 

 took; rare winter visitor, (Knight). Cumberland; rare, (Mead). Franklin; 

 rare, (Richards) ; seen at North Jay, November 29, 1905, (Swain). Han- 

 cock; rare, (Dorr). Kennebec; very rare, (Powers). Knox; migrant, 

 (Rackliff). Oxford ; rare, (Nash J . Penobscot ; quite common some seasons 

 in late fall and winter, other years very rare, (Knight). Piscataquis ; some 

 winters common, (Homer) . Washington ; some winters common, (Boardman ) . 



A general but usually rare winter visitor which some seasons 



occurs in comparatively large numbers, as many as forty being 



