THE OOLOGIST. 



169 



nest of some kind of Hawk and use it 

 for their nursery. They like to build 

 near a ravine or river, for the reason 

 that finding a tree whose branches over- 

 hang the river the male takes up his 

 position there and watches until some 

 unwary mouse, squirrel or rabbit crosses 

 the ice, when he swoops down upon it 

 and carries it off to his mate. They 

 hunt chiefl/ at night or in the dusk of 

 twilight, which accounts for the pres- 

 ence in their nests, which contain young, 

 of such dusk-loving animals as rabbits, 

 (northern hares) pocket gophers, mice 

 and snakes. They take birds as they 

 roost and the birds most frequently 

 caught by them are ground birds as the 

 Grouse, Rails, etc. These they cat h 

 while sleeping, as you may prove for 

 yourself if you will go out some fine 

 night in the spring at the time the Owls 

 have their families to provide for, and 

 sitting down in the shelter of the trees 

 on the border of the woods frequented 

 by them watch them. As twilight deep- 

 ens you will hear a call 'Hoo, Hoj, 

 Hoo," then a pause and again thrice re- 

 peated the "Hoo, Hoo, Hoo." Strain 

 your eyes and against the evening sky 

 you see Mr. Bubo sitting motionless as 

 a statute on some dead stump or limb 

 of a tree or perhaps a fence post. Watch 

 him. In a moment he leaves his perch 

 and flaps noiselessly over the grass, 

 keeping about three or four feet above 

 the ground. His large wings and soft 

 plumage carry him silently through the 

 air and bis large, well developed eyes 

 scan the ground for his prey. Ah! see 

 him poise. He sees some game. Hovers 

 a moment, then drops. Run to the 

 place and you see bim rise from his 

 quarry. He carries ofE with him a 

 mouse, a rabbit or perchance a Grouse. 

 On fine evenings in the spring I have 

 witnessed this performance as I sat 

 down to rest on my way home after a 

 day's collecting. 



I don't want to impress the reader 

 that they are a very destructive bird, 



for I find that it is only at the season 

 when they are raising their brood that 

 they destroy much game. At other 

 times it does not take much to keep a 

 pair of these Owls, for the two I had in 

 captivity were not very large eaters, a 

 full-grown rabbit lasting them for three 

 days. 



If you will open these Owls' stomachs 

 at other seasons you will generally find 

 that its stomach contains 95 par cent, of 

 the remains of mice, moles, weasels, 

 snakes, rabbits and such mammals and 

 that few birds are taken. 



We have the three varieties of the 

 Great Horned Owl here, the two prev- 

 iously mentioned and the Dusky. This 

 variety is rarer than the other two.only 

 about three specimens having come into 

 my hands. I have not found their nests 

 as yet, although I feel pretty sure that 

 they breed here. I had one brought to 

 me in July of '94, and it appeared to be 

 a young bird, as all the down was not 

 off its feathers. 



The Arctic is rather more common, but 

 chiefly seen in winter. With the excep- 

 tion of the nest found this March I have 

 never seen a nest. This year while on 

 a visit to Rock and Pelican lakes I 

 boated down the Pembina river for 

 about seven miles between half past 4 

 and half past 10 on the third of July, 

 and after passing a heronry of the Great 

 Blue Heron in a very secluded spot at a 

 bend of the river where the crooked 

 course of the river almost forms a large 

 island, I frightened from their perches 

 on overhanging branches four young of 

 the Arctic Horned that were well able to 

 fly. They alighted in different places 

 near the river, some on overhanging 

 branches and one, the smallest of the 

 four, on a stump. I passed within ten 

 feet of him as he sat there staring at me 

 with his big yellow eyes, and knew at 

 once that I had seen a family of B. v. 

 arcticus. These were all one brood, I 

 have no doubt, as they stayed close to- 

 gether and had probably been hatched 



