200 NESTS AND EGGS OF 



376. Nyctea nyctea (Linn.) [406.] 



' Snowy Oxirl. 



Hab. Northern portions of the Northern Hemisphere; in North America, migrating southward in 

 winter to the Middle States, straggling to Virginia, South Carolina, Texas, and even to the Bermudas. 



This large and beautiful bird inhabits the boreal regions of both 

 continents. It is commonly called White Owl, and is found with the 

 plumage almost immaculate, or marked with bars and spots of black 

 and slaty-brown. It is a bird of wide range, extending its migrations 

 as far south as the sub-tropical regions. During some winters it is very 

 abundant in the United States, especially in the Northern, Middle and 

 Eastern States. The food of the Snowy Owl consists of hares, squir- 

 rels, muskrats, and other small animals, and, as the bird is not exclu- 

 sively nocturnal, it catches these quadrupeds in daytime as readily as 

 any hawk. It is said to probably breed in Northern Maine, Canada, 

 Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, as it does in Newfoundland and 

 Labrador. Common during the summer months in the region of Hud- 

 son Bay and other portions of Arctic America, nesting on the ground 

 in moss on the dry parts of marshes. It is recorded as a rare summer 

 resident near Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba. A nest containing six eggs 

 of this Owl was found in Manitoba by Mr. Le Grand T. Meyer, on the 

 26th of February, 1879. The measurements of the eggs are as follows : 

 2.59x1.93, 2.58x1.93, 2.56x1.91, 2.55x1.91, 2.55x1.90, 2.53x1.90. 

 The nest from which these eggs were taken was about eighteen inches 

 above the level of the prairie. It was made of hay, grass and sticks, 

 warmly lined with feathers from the breast of the bird. The eggs were 

 deposited at irregular intervals, as shown by the considerable differ- 

 ence in the size of the embryos which they contained. The eggs were 

 oval-oblong in shape, with a remarkably smooth, glossy white surface. 

 As many as ten eggs are said to be laid by this species, and in Arctic 

 America they are usually deposited in May. 



377a. Surnia ulula caparoch (Mull.) [407.] 



American Hawk Oiirl. 



Hab. Northern North America; south in winter to Northern border of the United States; occasional 

 in British Islands. 



A bird hawk-like in appearance, but nevertheless a true owl, and 

 being the least nocturnal of its tribe, it is called Da)' Owl. Its food is 

 chiefly field-mice and other small rodents, hawked for in broad day- 

 light. The Hawk Owl inhabits the northern portions of North Amer- 

 ica, and is said to breed from Maine northward. 



Dr. Richardson notes this rpecies as common throughout the Fur 

 Countries from Hudson Bay to the Pacific. It was found in consider- 

 able numbers by Mr. MacFarlane in the Anderson River region, nest- 



