THE GREAT GRAY OWL 201 



Genus Scotiaptex Swainson. 



27. SCOTIAPTEX NEB U LOS A NEBULOSA(J. R. Forster), 370. 



Great Gray Owl. 



Field Characters. The largest owl without ear-tufts in the state. 

 Dark grayish in general color, with yellow eyes. Very rare. 



Description. Above, dusky, mottled with white; feathers about 

 the eyes gray, with black concentric rings. Below, white and 

 streaked on breast, and barred and streaked on sides with dusky. 

 Feet and legs with long, hairlike feathers; eyes and bill yellow. 

 Size very large. No ear-tufts. 



Measurements. Length, 26 to 28 inches; wing, 17 to 18 inches; 

 tail, about 12 inches. 



Range. Boreal North America. Breeds from northern tree limit 

 in central Alaska and northwestern Mackenzie, south to central Ca- 

 nadian provinces. Winters southward to northern United States, 

 straggling to Iowa, Indiana and Ohio. 



The Great Gray Owl is without doubt, in apparent size, if not by 

 actual weight, the largest of our Iowa owls. It is a rare straggler 

 from the north, and authentic records of its occurrence are very few. 

 If the bird is in hand, it is not easily mistaken for the Barred Owl, 

 which it most resembles. Its size, however, relatively small feet, and 

 above all its yellow eyes, are in marked contrast to the smaller dimen- 

 sions, comparatively larger feet, and dark eyes of the Barred Owl. 

 The writer has purchased two specimens of this bird which were 

 taken near Minneapolis, Minnesota, in the autumn of 1913, but has 

 been unable to discover any specimens actually collected in Iowa. 



R. M. Anderson notes that it is recorded by J. A. Allen (White's 

 Geology of Iowa, Vol. 2, p. 424, 1870), and by I. S. Trostler on De- 

 cember 17, 1893, near Omaha (Rev. Bds. Neb., p. 55) ; also by T. M. 

 Trippe near Oskaloosa in Mahaska county (Proc. Bost. Soc., XV., 

 p. 233, 1872). He also records that Walter G. Savage reported one 

 killed by his father in 1860 near Hillsboro, Van Buren county, and 

 "David L. Savage writing in 1894 says 'a friend in Van Buren county 

 shot a Great Gray Owl a few winters ago/ ' 



The species is looked upon as one that is not successful in the strug- 

 gle for existence and that is decreasing in numbers. 



