CINEREOUS OWL— GREA.T GRAY OWL. 121 



facts show how extremely careful all observers shou'd be, especially 

 in Canada, in making out their local lists of Mammals and Birds, 

 putting nothing down as fact which they have not observed them- 

 selves, or plainly stating wherein they have drawn from hearsay 

 or conjecture. While on this subject I may add, that the only 

 species of Owls which are known to nest in Canada, and of which 

 the eggs have been obtained, are the Little Screech Owl, the 

 Great Horned Owl, the Long and Short-eared Owls, and the 

 Barred Owl. 



The Cinereous Owl, as already stated, is rather a rare bird 

 throughout the greater portion of Canada — East and West — but 

 a greater number is seen every winter in the Province of Quebec 

 than in Ontario. Reeks does not mention it in his list of New- 

 foundland birds, although there can be little doubt but that it 

 occurs there. At Quebec and Montreal more specimens have 

 been obtained, perhaps, than at any other points. During the 

 present winter (1876), mild and open as the weather has been, 

 there has been an unusual number of these birds exposed for sale 

 in the Montreal markets, all of which were obtained either on the 

 island or in close proximity to it ; this unusual number, however, 

 only amounts in all to about six birds. One pair of these I ob- 

 tained — a male and female — the latter being the largest I have 

 ever seen. In Canada West this Owl has been taken at Kingston, 

 Toronto and Hamilton, and probably at other points. It is, 

 according to Richardson, " by no means a rare bird in the fur 

 countries, being an inhabitant of all the woody districts lying 

 between Lake Superior and latitudes 67° and 68°, and between 

 Hudson's Bay and the Pacific. It is common on the borders of 

 Great Bear Lake ; and there and in the higher parallels of latitude 

 it must pursue its prey, during the summer months, by daylight." 

 It is not mentioned by Mr. Bernard Ross as occurring in the 

 McKenzie River district. From Canada it wanders into the 

 Northern and New England States in winter, and is found as 

 far south as Massachusetts and New Jersey. Dr. Brewer states 

 that about the year 1839 he obtained two for Mr. Audubon that 

 were shot near Boston, — " a fact which does not appear to have 



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