80 



ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



the gun, and is often bold enough, on a bird being killed, 

 to pounce down upon it, though unable, from its size, to 

 carry it off. 



The Hawk Owl occasionally breeds in New England. 

 My friend, George A. Boardman 

 of Milltown, Me., has been so for- 

 tunate as to find its nest, with 

 eggs, in that neighborhood. It 

 usually builds in a hollow tree, 

 but sometimes constructs a habi- 

 tation in the crotch of a tall tree, 

 of sticks, grass, and feathers. 

 According to Richardson, it lays 

 two white globular eggs. 



Two beautiful specimens in my 

 collection, from William Couper, 

 Esq., Quebec, collected at North- 

 ern Labrador by the Montanaz 

 Indians, are a trifle more elongated and pointed than the 

 eggs of the Red 'Owl (Scops asio). They are of a pure- 

 white color, and measure 1.50 by 1.25 inch and 1.47 by 

 1.22 inch. 



NOTES. 



I append the following notes, that have been kindly fur- 

 nished me by William Couper, of Quebec, Lower Canada, 

 for the purpose of showing the northern distribution of the 

 birds of prey described in the preceding pages : 



HYPOTRIORCHIS COLUMBARIUS. Only young specimens occur, and 

 those rarely, in the latitude of Quebec : they are more common toward the 

 western portions of Lower and Upper Canada. It has not, to my knowledge, 

 been found breeding in Canada. 



TINNUNCULUS SPARVERIUS. This species is more abundant than the 

 preceding ; but the majority of the specimens shot in the neighborhood of 

 Quebec are young. I am informed that it breeds in the vicinity of the river 

 St. Maurice, which falls into the river St. Lawrence, west of Quebec. 



