388 UFB HISTOEIBS OF NOKTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



Since it occurs in Arizona it will doubtless be found to inhabit all the 

 higher timbered ranges and spurs of both the Rocky and Sierra Nevada 

 Mountains, within the United States, and possibly the Sierra Madre of northern 

 Mexico as well, and breeding perhaps entirely in the fir and spruce belt above 

 an altitude of 8,000 feet, where they find a summer climate similar to that of 

 the higher latitudes they inhabit in the Arctic regions. On the approach of 

 winter they probably all leave the mountain summits and descend to the foot- 

 hills. 



I am well aware of the fact tliat the Dusky Horned Owl is a migrant, at 

 least in some parts of its range, having shot quite a number of these birds 

 in different parts of Oregon and Washington during the winter months. At 

 Fort Walla Walla, Washington, situated in the fertile valley bearing the same 

 name, near the northern slopes of the Blue Mountains, I found this race especi- 

 ally common at that season. Of the eighteen birds obtained there, twelve 

 were referable to this form; three were intermediate, and three were typical 

 Buho virginiamis subarcticus, the latter breeding there regularly, while the 

 Dusky Horned Owls seem to retire to the higher timbered mountains at the 

 aj)proach of spring; at any rate, none of the dark birds were seen during 

 the nesting season. 



The late Mr. Robert Keunicott found a nest and two eggs of the Dusky 

 Horned Owl near Fort Yukon, Alaska, April 16, 1862. The female parent 

 (No. 27075, U. S. National Museum collection), procured at the same time, is 

 one of the darkest colored specimens of the entire series of skins of this race 

 in the collection. The nest is described as a large structure, made of dry 

 branches, and placed in the top of a spruce standing in a dense grove 

 of trees of the same species; the inner cavity was shallow and simply lined 

 with a few feathers. It contained two fresh eggs, and another, fully formed 

 but broken, was found in the oviduct of the female, also a smaller ovum 

 about the size of a musket ball. 



Mr. H. Connelly found the Dusky Horned Owl breeding at Fort Nis- 

 copec, Labrador, in the spring of 1863. A single egg and the female parent 

 (No. 34958) are now in the National Museum collection. This specimen is 

 the darkest colored bird of the entire series. 



Mr. L. M. Turner, of the U. S. Signal Service, procured several specimens 

 of this Owl while stationed at Fort Chimo, Ungava. In his manuscript on the 

 "Birds of Labrador and Ungava," he says: "From intelligent and trustworthy 

 sources I have learned that this species of Owl is quite common near the 

 head of Hamilton Inlet and the southern portion of Labrador. The char- 

 acter of that region would indicate a greater abundance of birds of prey than . 

 in the sparsely wooded district of Ungava. That the bird is resident and 

 breeds in Ungava is attested by specimens of both young and old." 



The Dusky Horned Owl is evidently only a resident of the heavier 

 timbered portions of British North America, the pine and spruce forests of 

 these regions, and the higher mountain ranges of the more temperate zone. 



