316 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA. 
downy young, although their eyes were still tightly closed and they 
were very feeble, uttered a continuous wheedling cry, especially if 
the tree were tapped or they were in any way jarred. This could be 
heard 20 feet away from the base of the tree. The nest cavity was 
evidently an enlarged woodpecker’s hole. The wood was very 
much decayed and soft, so that it had been an easy matter to en- 
large the entrance. The entrance was 14 feet above the snow, 
and the nest proper was three inches below that. The cavity was 
lined with a mixture of feathers and bits of the rotten wood. The 
feathers were all apparently from the breast of the female parent. 
The female bird (the male not at all, although he was sitting on the 
nest when it was found) had the whole breast and abdomen, from 
the upper end of the breast-bone to the vent, entirely bare of fea- 
thers, also on the sides up to the lateral feather tracts, and through 
these for about one inch on both sides under the wings; also down 
the inside of the thighs to the knees. This was the most exten- 
sive feather divestment I ever saw in any species. (Grinnell.) 
The hawk owl is not uncommon in the regions of Anderson river, 
although only four nests were discovered and the eggs taken there- 
from. All of these were built in pine trees at a considerable height 
from the ground; one was actually placed on the topmost boughs, 
and like the others, it was constructed of small sticks and twigs 
lined with hay and moss; the male and female of the latter were shot, 
and the nest contained two young birds, one of which was apparently 
ten days and the other three weeks old, together with an addled egg; 
all of the others, however, but one, had six eggs, and in a single 
instance as many as seven were secured; the parents always dis- 
approved of our proceedings; very few owls were observed on the 
lines of march travelled over during the seasons of 1864 and 1865; 
this species winters in arctic America. (Macjfarlane.) This bird 
breeds sparingly in northern Saskatchewan. Dr. George and Mr. 
Wenman inform me they have found it breeding in northern Alberta, 
around Red Deer; I have received eggs with the parent from northern 
Saskatchewan; the four eggs were taken June 6th, 1899, and the 
nest was built in a willow nine feet from the ground; this set was 
taken by F. Baines; I have another set of five eggs that was taken at 
Hamilton inlet, Labrador, May 24, 1896; this nest was built in a 
spruce tree top. (W. Raine.) 
