228 BIRDS OF ONTARIO. 



GENUS ULULA CUVIER. 

 ULULA CINEREA (GMEL.). 



161. Great Gray Owl. (370) 



Above, cinereous brown, mottled in waves with cinereous white ; below, 

 these colors rather paler, disposed in streaks on the breast, in bars elsewhere ; 

 quills and tail, with five or six darker and lighter bars ; the great disk similarly 

 marked in regular concentric rings. An immense owl, one of the largest of all, 

 much exceeding any other of this country. Length, 2| feet ; wing, 1^ ; tail, a 

 foot or more. 



HAB. Arctic America, straggling southward, in winter, to the northern 

 border of the United States. 



Nest, in trees, composed of sticks and twigs, lined with moss and a few 

 feathers. 



Eggs, two or three, not quite round, white. 



This beautifully marked and solemn-looking bird is usually de- 

 scribed as the largest of North American Owls, but it can only be 

 regarded so by measurement, for in weight, strength and ferocity it 

 is inferior to both the Snowy and the Great Horned Owl. The 

 lengthy tail, and the long, loose feathers with which its body is 

 densely clothed, give it the appearance of a very large bird of prey, 

 but when closely examined, the legs, claws and bill are smaller and 

 weaker than those of either of the two species named. 



The Great Gray Owl is said to be more northern in its range than 

 even the Snowy Owl. In Southern Ontario, it is a casual visitor 

 in the winter only. I have had two individuals brought to me which 

 were got near Hamilton, and have seen several in the hands of other 

 parties. During the present winter, I saw one which was sent down 

 from Muskoka, where it was shot in the woods in the month of 

 December. 



It is truly a bird of the far north, those we see here in winter 

 being only stragglers from the main body of the species, which is 

 resident throughout all the wooded parts of Alaska, from Sitka north 

 to the northern tree limit, and from the vicinity of Behring Straits 

 east throughout the Territory, extending all over the fur countries. 



Mr. Dall speaks of it being so exceedingly stupid that along the 

 Yukon it can be caught by the hand in the daytime. Its food 

 consists mainly of hares, mice, and. other species of the smaller 

 mammals, and also small birds. Mr. Dall took no less than thirteen 

 skulls and other remains of Red-poll Linnets from the crop of a 

 single bird. 



