NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



245 



[377.] HAWK OWL. Surnia ulula (Linn.) Geog. Dist. Arctic portions of 

 the Old World. Casual in Alaska (St. Michael's). 



Mr. F. M. Turner obtained several specimens 

 of this species in the vicinity of St. Michael's, 

 Alaska, while on duty there in connection with 

 the U. S. Signal Service during the years 1874 to 1881 . 

 which gives the Hawk Owl of Europe a place in our 

 avifauna. It is a larger bird than the American Hawk 

 Owl. Dresser in his magnificent work on "Birds of 

 Europe" says: "The Hawk Owl is a northern species, 

 being spread over the whole of Scandinavia and Si- 

 beria; it visits more southern countries only In winter 

 and then very sparingly, but has not yet been found on 

 the shores of the Mediterranean. According to Collett 

 it is very widely distributed throughout Norway, pre- 

 ferring the sub-Alpine regions to the low country; it 

 is tolerably numerous in the sub-Alpine woods of 

 Northern Sweden and Norway, common in Lapland 

 and Finland, occasionally visiting Denmark in winter; 

 said to have nested in East Prussia." The bird nests 

 in hollows of decayed pine trees, the lining of the nest 

 being simply the powdered wood or rotten chips of the 

 tree itself. The eggs are from five to nine in number, 

 white in color, smooth and glossy; in shape like those 

 of the Short-eared Owl. The breeding varies from the 

 middle of April to the end of June. A set of nine eggs 

 in Mr. Crandall's collection taken May 3, 1893, at 



Kittila, Lapland, exhibit the following measurements: 1.67x1.24, 1.57x1.28, 

 1.23, 1.63x1.25, 1.63x1.27, 1.52x1.23, 1.60x1.23, 1.58x1.29, 1.63x1.27. 



377. 



EUROPEAN HAWK OWL (From 

 Turner). 



1.58x 



377. AMERICAN HAWK OWL. Surnia ulula caparoch (Mull.) Geog. 

 Dist. 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 Day Owl. Its food is chiefly field-mice and other 

 small rodents, hawked for in broad daylight. The Hawk Owl inhabits the northern 

 portions of North America, and is said to breed from Maine northward. Dr. Rich- 

 ardson notes this species as common throughout the Fur Countries from Hudson 

 Bay to the Pacific. It was found in considerable numbers by Mr. MacFarlane in the 

 Anderson River Region, nesting in top branches of pine trees. Dr. Brewer de- 

 scribes a nest containing six eggs taken by Mr. MacFarlane on the 28th of April, 

 which was composed of dry sticks and lined with hay and a few feathers. Another, 

 which contained six eggs, was lined with green mosses and deer's hair. One nest 

 contained as many as seven eggs, and all but one had as many as six. Mr. R. B. 

 Ross found this Owl breeding in the Great Slave Lake district as early as the last of 

 March or first of April. Dr. Merriam states that the Hawk Owl unquestionably 

 breeds in northern Idaho. Tt is said that Mr. Boardman collected two of this species 

 on the shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. A common species about Nualto, on the 

 Yukon, Alaska, where Mr. W. H. Dall, on April 5th, obtained six eggs which were 

 laid in a hollow, in the top of an old birch stump, fifteen feet from the ground. 



