280 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
being very small, and surrounded with large bare trees,is a favorite 
run between the river and the lake for large fish at night, so that 
all the circumstances are very favorable for the prosecution of the ~ 
piscatorial pursuits of the owls. On the 8th May, 1884, I founda 
pair of these birds in possession of an old nest in the Big Swamp 
on the Assiniboine River, south of the Big Plain. This nest was 
about 30 feet from the ground, in the crotch of a poplar tree, 
which was as yet without leaves. The nest was formed of 
sticks and twigs and was indistinguishable from that of a red- 
tailed buzzard. Once or twice I tried to shoot the old bird on 
the nest, but she was too wary, and evidently had all her wits 
about her even inthe day time. (Zompson-Seton.) 
As early as 20th March, 1892, at Indian Head, Assa., a pair 
of these birds were nesting. On May 24thI visited the nest and 
took the two young birds home with me. They soon became 
quite tame and would allow me to stroke them, and although 
they often pecked my hands they never were able to draw blood. 
They seem to have little power with their beak. By July 7th 
they were as large as the old ones. It depends very much on their 
food how often they eject pellets.. If fed on chopped gophers, 
skins and all, they would eject about five times a week, if on the 
bodies of birds that had been skinned, about three times a week. 
On June 3rd found anest with two very young ones. Their eyes 
were not open yet, and they seemed only about five days old. On 
the 7th one opened its eyes and on the toth the otherone. They 
were quite white when very young and altogether without ear 
tufts. Their eyes are very small at first and the iris a dirty 
white, and it was not until they were a month old that their eyes 
attained the bright yellow appearance. (Spreadborough.) 
MUSEUM SPECIMENS. 
Two; one taken in the Touchwood Hills, Assa., September 
2Ist, 1880, by the writer; the other by W. Spreadborough at 
Edmonton, Alta., June 11th, 1897. 
One set of two eggs taken about four miles north of Red Deer, 
Alta., by G. F. Dippie, April roth, 1896. Nest evidently in an 
old hawk’s nest in a cottonwood about 35 feet from the ground. 
3756. Arctic Horned Owi. 
Bubo virginianus arcticus (SWAINS.) Cass. 1854. 
The purest type of arcticus seems to centre about Lake Mani- 
toba, in the winter at any rate, and I have always been able to get 
