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GREAT CINEREOUS OWL. 
STRIX CINEREA, GMELIN. 
PLATE CCCLI. 
Tuis finé Owl, which is the largest of the North American species, 
is nowhere common with us, although it ranges from the north-eastern 
coast of the United States to the sources of the Columbia River. It 
has been procured near Eastport in Maine, and at Marble Head in 
Massachusetts, where one of them was taken alive, perched on a 
wood pile, early in the morning, in February 1831. I went to Salem 
for the purpose of seeing it, but it had died, and I could not trace its 
remains. The gentleman, Mr Ives, in whose keeping it had been for 
several months, fed it on fish and small birds, of which it was very fond. 
Besides shewing me various marks of attention, he gave me a drawing 
of it made by his wife, which is still in my possession. It uttered at 
times a tremulous cry not unlike that of the Little Screech Owl, Strix 
Asio, and shewed a great antipathy to cats and dogs. In the winter of 
1832, I saw one of these Owls flying over the harbour of Boston, Mas- 
sachusetts, amid several Gulls, all of which continued teasing it until 
it disappeared. I have seen specimens procured on the Rocky Moun- 
tains by Dr TownsEnp, and several brought to London by the medical 
officer who accompanied Captain Bacx in his late Arctic journey. 
Among the individuals which I have examined I have found consider- 
able differences as to size and markings, which may be attributed to age 
and sex. My drawing was taken from a remarkably fine specimen in 
the collection of the Zoological Society of London. 
The comparatively small size of this bird’s eyes renders it probable 
that it hunts by day, and the remarkable smallness of its feet and claws 
induces me to think that it does not prey on large animals. Dr Ricwarp- 
son says that ‘it is by no means a rare bird in the Fur Countries, being 
an inhabitant of all the woody districts, lying between Lake Superior 
and latitudes 67° or 68°, and between Hudson’s Bay and the Pacific. 
It is common on the borders of Great Bear Lake; and there, and in 
the higher parallels of latitude, it must pursue its prey, during the 
summer months, by day-light. It keeps however within the woods, 
