STIUGID^E — THE OWLS. 



77 



Sum in itlitln 



taken oil the coast of rornwall in March, 18:^0 ; another was shot near 

 Yatton, in Soinersetsliire, on a sunny afternoon in August, 1847 ; a third 

 had previously been taken at Mary- 

 liill,near (Ihisgow, in Decemlier, 18G3. 

 On the Tacitic coast it lias not l)oen 

 taken farther south than Alaska, 

 though it is quite probable it may yet 

 be found to be an occasional visitant 

 in Washington Territory and Oregon, 

 and even the northern jx at ions of 

 California. It remains all tlie winter 

 in higii northern latitudes, and the 

 instances of its having bi^cn taken 

 even in Massachusetts, so far as is 

 now known, are not nuuiy. Wilson 

 only met with two si)c'cimens. Au- 

 dubon and Niittall never met with 

 one of these birds alive. 



Mr. Downes states that the TIawk 

 Owl is very abundant in Xova Scotia 

 in the winter timo in some years, but may not lie .seen agahi for four or 

 five seasons. It is common in Newfoundland, where it breeds in the 

 Caribou districts. Mr. Downes often kept living specimens in confinement, 

 which had been taken on board the Cunard steamers off tlie coast. 



Mr. Boardman gives this species as resident, though rare, in the neighbor- 

 hood of Calais, being occasionally found there in the breeding-sea.son. In 

 Oxford County, Maine, I'roi'essor A. E. Verrill says it is a common autumnal 

 and winter visitant, and that it is (piite abundant from tiio first of November 

 to the middle of March, l)ut not found there in the sunnner. Mr. Allen 

 has never met with it in Western ^Ia.ssacluisetts. Near Boston, in some 

 seasons, it is not unconnnon, though never occurring with any frequency, 

 and only singly. It is found througliout the State, and is probably more com- 

 mon late in November than at any other time ; several having been taken 

 in Wcstfield, and also in llerksliire County, among the Oreen Mountains. 1 

 am not aware that any iia\e lieen taken farther s(jutli than I'liiladelphia, 

 near which city Mi'. Edward Harris obtained one specimen, while another 

 was shot at Haddington in IStiG. Mr. Mcllwraith calls it a rare winter 

 visitant near Hamilton, Canada. 



Kichardson states that it is a common sjiecies throughout the fur 

 countries from Hudson r>ay to the Pacific, where it is killed by the hunters 

 more fretinently than any other, wliich may be attributed to its bold- 

 ness and to its diurnal aabits. During the summer season it feeds princi- 

 pally upon mice and insects, but in tlie regions in which it is found in win- 

 ter, where the snow is very tieep, . nd where this food is not procurable, it 



