818 Report of State CjEOLogist. 



lioial. Their chief food, with us, is meadow mice; in the Arctic re- 

 gions those mice and lemmings principally supply its wants. Mr. 

 L. M. Turner, in his "Notes on the Birds of Labrador and Ungava,'' 

 says: ''It never seizes its prey except while the latter is in motiou, 

 except in the case, probably, of fish." The examinations of stomachs 

 conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture show, of 

 38 stomachs of the Snowy Owl examined, 3 contained game birds; !>, 

 other birds; 18, mice; 3, other mammals; and 12 were empty. (Fisher, 

 Bull. No. 3, Div. 0. & M., IT. S. Dept. Agr., p. 187.) 



The beauty of the plumage of this useful bird marks it for slaugh- 

 ter. It flys by day, and is, therefore, very conspicuous. Few, if any, 

 of those that visit the Ignited States live to return. The winter of 

 1876-7, Mr. Euthven Deane estimates as many as .')()0 were killed in 

 New England. 



Audubon gives an interesting accouni of the fishing habits of this 

 Owl. as observed by him at the Falls of the Ohio (Orn. Biog., Vol. II. 

 p. 130). 



SS. (Jkms SURMA IUmkkii.. 



154. (o77a). Surnia ulula caparoch (Mill.). 



American Hawk Owl. 



"No ear t\ifts; (ail rounded al tij>s. and indistiuftly harreil wiili 

 white. Top of head and back of neck, spotted with white and bUick. 

 or dark brown; a. patch of uniform blackish or dark In-own (Ui (>a('h side 

 of hind neck; ujiper parts, brown, more or h>ss s])otlod with wliilf; 

 low'cr parts, regularly barred with brown. 



•Length, 14.75-17.50; wing, 7.50-9.00; tail. (>.SO-:.(iO." (Kishor). 



Eangk. — Northern North America. Breeds from Newfoundland 

 and Manitoba, northward. South, in winier. irregularly, lo northern 

 United States; IMa.ssachusetts, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesola. Da- 

 kota and Montana. 



Nest, in natural cavity, in tree or among limbs of bushy (M.nil'ers. 

 Eggs, 3-7; white; 1.51 by 1.23. 



Accidental visitor. Mr. E. 1\. (^hiiek identitied it in JM-anklin 

 County, in January, 1878. 



This Owl is diurnal in its habits. It hunt^ by day, generally in the 

 morning, or in evening. It nests from Newfoundland northward io 

 the Arctic regions, wherever timber is found. Nelson says: ''This 

 is perhaps the most abundant resident bird of prey throughout the en- 

 tire wooded part of northern Alaska." (N. H. Coll. in Alaska, p. 155.) 

 The Hawk Owl has been taken in the lower peninsula of Michigan, the 



