286 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
of the Similkameen. (Fannin.) Scarce at Chilliwack ; probably 
breeds in the mountains of British Columbia; rare in the winter 
at Lake Okanagan, B.C. (Bvooks.) Collected on Vancouver Island 
by W. F. Findlay and at Vernon, B.C., by W.C.Pound. (hoads.) 
I first met with the hawk owl near the head of Hunt River in the 
foothills of the Jade Mountains, about 20 miles north of our 
winter camp on the Kowak, Kotzebue Sound, Alaska. They arrived 
about April roth, 1899, and left the preceding year on September 
21st. (Grinnell.) 
BreEDING Notes.—In the spring of 1899 their arrival was noted 
on April 1oth in the Yukon district of Alaska. At this date they 
were already paired, and a female secured contained large ova. 
On April 26th I located a pair of hawk owls which by their rest- 
lessness indicated a nesting site near by. The nest was finally 
found, but there were as yet no eggs. It was in the hollow end of 
a leaning dead spruce stub about Io feet above the ground. The 
dry rotten chips in the bottom were modelled into a neatly 
rounded depression. The male bird was quite noisy often repeating 
a far-reaching rolling trill. Both birds frequently uttered a low 
whine, alternately answering one another. On May 8th, while snow- 
shoeing across the country toward the base of the Jade Moun- 
tains, my attention was attracted by the distant trill of a hawk 
owl. After a half hour’s search through a heavy stretch of 
timber, I located the bird perched at the top of a tall live spruce, 
partly hidden by the foliage. Then I began an inspection of all 
dead stubs and trees in the vicinity. I had given up hope of 
finding a nest and had started on, when, by mere chance, I hap- 
pened tocatch sight of a hole ina dead spruce fully 200 yards away. 
A close approach showed a sitting bird which afterwards proved to 
be the male. Its tail was protruding at least two inches from the 
hole, while the bird’s head was turned so that it was facing out 
over its back. When I tapped on the tree the bird left the nest, 
flew off about thirty yards, turned and made for my head like a 
shot. It planted itself with its full weight on to my skull, draw- 
ing blood from three claw-marks in my scalp. My hat was torn off 
and thrown twelve feet. All this the owl did with scarcely astop 
in its headlong swoop. When as far on the other side the cour- 
ageous bird made another dash, and then another, before I had 
collected enough wits to get ina shot. The female which was 
evidently the bird I had first discovered on look-out duty then 
made her appearance, but was less vociferous. The nest con- 
