SYRNIUM CINEREUM, GREAT GRAY OWL. 307 



50— SCL. & Sai,v., p. Z. S. 18C8, J43 (Buenos Ayres).— Daij. & Bann., Tr. Chic. "^ ^^- 

 Acad. i. 180(1, 273.— Coop., B. Cal. i, 1870, 428. -Stev., U. S. Geol. Surv. Ter. ' ' 

 1870, 462.— Snow, B. Kans. 1873, 2.— Dall, Vr. Cal. Acad. Fob. 1871! (Aleutian^ 

 Islauda). 



e. galapagoensis. 



Brachyotm galapagoon^'m, Gould, P. Z. S. 1837, 10. 



Otus galapagoensis, Dakw., Voy. Beagle, iii, 32, pi. 3.— Bp., Consp. Av. i, 1850, 51. — 



Gray, Gen. of B. ; List B. Brit. Mus. 108. 

 Asia galapagoensis, Stmcki.., Orn. Syn. 1855, 211. 



JIdli — Enropo. Asia. Greenland. America. West Indies. Var. galapagoensis from 

 the Galapagos. 



Lieutenant Wan-en's Eipeditinti. — 4034, Grindstone Creek; 4539, White River. 

 Later Expeditions. — 60033, Sweetwater, Wyoming. 



Tbe specific uaine of this species is highly appropriate, such is its 

 preference for low, moist, and even swampy or marshy resorts. The 

 greater part of the Missouri region being not particularly adapted to 

 its wants, it is not so common or so generally diffused in this part of 

 the country as in some other portions. I procured one specimen at 

 Fort Kandall, in the winter of 187-!-'73. It is, however, one of the few 

 species not confined to woods, but occurring in open prairie, sometimes 

 many miles from timbered land. It nests on the ground, la.ying its eggs 

 either in a bare depression, or upon a few sticks, or feathers, or a little 

 grass. The eggs, usually four or. five in number, are dull white, less 

 nearly spherical than usual in this family, and measure about an inch 

 and a half in length by one and a fourth in breadth. But its nesting 

 varies with circumstances. Mr. Dall recently found it breeding in bur- 

 rows, on the island of Oonalashka; "the hole is horizontal, and the 

 inner end usually a little higher than the aperture; lined with dry grass 

 and feathers." The burrows were not over two feet deep, usually 

 excavated in the side of a steep bank. 



Being so generally diffused in this country, it is not a little surprising 

 that Dr. Brewer should have been led to say, in 1857, there was no 

 authentic case of its occurrence, south of Pennsylvania, in the United 

 States. It is decidedly the commonest Owl about Washington, D. C, 

 especially in winter. I frequently observed it in the salt-marshes of the 

 North Carolina coast at various seasons, and Mr. Allen records it as 

 quite common in the marshes of Florida. On one occasion I observed a 

 gathering of twenty or thirty individuals on the Oolorado Eiver, below 

 Fort Mojave ; others have noted similar instances of its sociable dis- 

 position. The birds were sitting quite closely together in the rank 

 herbage bordering the river ; some flapped hurriedly off as the steam- 

 boat came abreast of them, while others stood to their perches as we 

 passed. In California, Dr. Cooper observes that he has not seen it 

 south of the Santa Clara V;illey. It occurs in the West Indies, and the 

 South American form is couspeciflc. I am unable to appreciate any con- 

 stant or tangible differences between tlie European and American bird, 

 although the latter may average slightly larger, and a shade darker. 



SYENIUM CmEEEUM, (Gm.) And. 

 Great Gray Owl. 



a. ciiiereum. 



Strix cinerea, Gm., Syst. Nat. i, 1768, 291.— Lath., Ind. Orn. i, 1790, 58 (based on Sooty 

 Owl, Arct. Zool. ii, 232, IS'o. 120; Cinereous Owl, Syu. Snppl. 45).— Vielll., 

 Nouv. Diet. d'Hist. Nat. vii, 23 ; Enc. Meth. iii, 1289 ; Ois. Am. Sept. i, 48.— 

 Bp., Am. Orn. pi. 23 ; Ann. Lyo. N. Y. ii, 436 ; Isis, 1832, 1140.— Nutt., Man. i. 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



