122 CINEREOUS OWL— GREAT GRAY OWL. 



been previously recorded." Another was taken at Salem, Mass. 

 by Mr. E. S. Waters (1866) and is now in the museum of the 

 Peabody Academy. Ridgway records it at Illinois. Dr. Cooper 

 reports it as " common in the dense spruce forests near the Col- 

 umbia river, and northward." 



Respecting the nidification of the Great Gray Owl, and its 

 other general habits, very little is known to naturalists. I consider 

 it to be a strictly boreal bird, breeding in the fur countries and 

 extremely high latitudes. The majority are resident birds in the 

 Arctic regions, and those we see are the few stragglers which 

 perhaps have followed in the track of some of the flights of 

 Ptarmigan. 



&"- 



This Owl is particularly well provided against cold, but not 

 to the same degree as the Snowy Owl. Its plumage is loose, soft, 

 and has a hair-like appearance. The head and face appear to 

 be unusually large, but the skull, when the skin and feathers are 

 removed, is comparatively small. Unlike the majority of the 

 Owl species, the eyes of this bird are unusually small, as are 

 also the feet. There is considerable difference in size between 

 the sexes, but in other respects they are alike. The eggs of most 

 Owls are white, without spots, but according to the list before 

 referred to of Hall's, those of this species are " mottled with black- 

 ish brown ; " which is most improbable. Can any of our collectors 

 inform us on this point ? 



Sp. Char. The largest North American Owl. Above smoky or ashy-brown, mottled and 

 barred with ashy-white, with numerous dark ashy-brown stripes, especially on the breast, and with 

 bars of the same on the abdomen, legs and lower tail coverts ; quills brown, wiili about five wide 

 irregular bands of ashy-white ; tail similar, with five or six bands, and mottled with dark brown ; 

 feathers of the disk on the neck tipped with white ; eye nearly encircled by a black spot ; radiating 

 feathers round the eye, with regular transverse narrow bars of dark brown and ash- white. 



Length, 25.00 to 30.00; extent, 56.00; wing, 18.00; tail, 12.00 to 15.00. Iris yellow. 

 Bill and claws yaler. 



