370 NORTH AMERICAN FAUNA. [no 27. 



oil the same authority that it breeds at the mouth of the Mackenzie. 

 In the summer of 1896 J. Alden Loring found a dead one in the 

 Blueberry Hills, about 100 miles in a direct line west of Edmonton, 

 May 29, and saw one at Whitemud Lake, about 35 miles farther west, 

 on June G. He killed another on Stony River, about 25 miles north 

 of Jasper House, August 25. On October 20 he shot another at 

 Henry House. The day being cloudy, the bird was hunting by day- 

 light and was easily approached. Its stomach contained a number 

 of shrews. 



MacFarlane, in a manuscript list, records a nest containing two 

 fresh eggs, taken, together with one of the parent birds, near Fort 

 Chipewyan on April 20, 1880. 



Grlaux fnnerea richardsoni (Bonap.). Richardson Owl. 



This fine owl is quite generally distributed throughout the wooded 

 portion of the region in summer, but retires in winter from about the 

 northern half of this area. It is usually rather rare and is seldom 

 observed, though it is to a considerable extent diurnal in habits. 



A pair of these owls was seen in heavy mixed woods beside the 

 Athabaska, 75 miles below Fort McMurray, on the evening of May 15, 

 1901. I was attracted to them by their notes, which suggested those 

 of the saw-whet owl, but were more varied. I obtained several 

 glimpses of the birds as they darted back and forth among the sum- 

 mits of the lofty spruces in the deep twilight, but was unable to ob- 

 tain one. The species was next met with at our camp on Slave River, 

 10 miles below the Peace, June 7, when a nest containing three nearly 

 fledged young was discovered. It was in a deserted hole of a flicker, 

 about 20 feet from the ground in a large balsam poplar stub, in deep 

 woods. The young were collected. Neither of the old birds was 

 seen about the nest, but during the night the female was taken in a 

 trap placed on a pole near by for that purpose. The stomachs of the 

 3'oung birds contained the remains of white-footed mice (Peromyscvs 

 arcticus), meadow voles (Microtus drummondi) , and red-backed voles 

 (E votomys g. athabascce) , and a matted layer an inch and a half in 

 thickness, composed of the bones and hair of these species, filled the 

 bottom of the cavity. Two of the young are males, the other, so 

 much larger that it must have been older than the rest of the brood, 

 is a female. They vary but little in coloration, being dark brown 

 above, and without spots, excepting a few on the wings and tail; 

 sides of head dusky brown ; white on face confined to the region 

 about gape and to a few feathers on forehead; breast and belly 

 brown, mixed with dull white posteriorly. At our camp 25 miles 

 below the mouth of the Peace, on June 12, my brother shot an adult 



n Cat. Canadian Birds, Part II, i>. 271, 1903. 



