312 SUENIA ULULA VAK. HUDSOXIA, HAWK OWL. 



1831, 9-2.— NuTX., Man. i, 183-2, 115,— Pe,vb., Eep. Orn. Muss. H:i.-BKEW . ed. 



Wils. 686. — Thiimp.s., Vermont, 64. — AUD., Oru. Biog. Lv, 331). pi. 378.— UeKay, 



N. Y. Zool. 18-44, pi. 9, fig. 19. 

 Suniia fu7ierea, DuMlSniL, Zool. Anal. If^OG, 34. — Bp., List, 1836, 6. — Jard., etl. Wils. ii. 



270; Br. B. i, 514.— Aui>., .Syn. 1839, al : B. Aui. i, 1840, U-2, pi. 27 — Dke.sis. & 



SlLvRPH, B. Eur. pt. xii, Aug. 1872 (Xoitli America and Great IS.itain). 

 Xoctua (Surnia) funerea, Jeny.ns, Man. Br. Vurt. 526. 

 Sjiniia Jniicrea. Macgil., Hist. Brit. Birds, iii, l'^40, 404 (fidn Du. & Sii.). 

 Nocttia funerea, Yakhkll, Hist. Brit. Biids, i, 1843, 139 {Jide Dr. & Sii.). 

 Strix caparoch, Muller, .S\ st. Nat. Suppl. 1779, i, 69. 

 Strix hudsonia, Gm., Syst. Nat. i, 1788, 295.— Wils., Am. Orn. vi, 1812, 64, pi. 50, fig. 6 



(Philadelphia). 

 Surnia hudsonia, Jame.sox, ed. Wils. i, 90. 

 Siiniia borealis, Lesson, Trait6 d' Oru. i, 1831, 100. 



Sfrix alula of authors, partly ; excluding Coutmental European references. 

 Suniia ulula, Ca.ss.. 111. 1854, 191 (excl. partof the synonymy). — Brew., N. A. Ool. 18.57, 



80 (excl. part of syns.).— Bd., B. N. A. 1858, 64 (excl. pt. syn.).— Wheat. Ohio 

 Agric. Rep. 1860, No. 29.— Hoy, Tr. Wise. Agric. Soc. 18.52 ;"Fr. PhiUi. Acad. Wo'.', 

 (Wisconsin). — Board., Pr. B, Sue. ix, 1862, 123 (Calais, ile., breeding). — Verr., 

 Pr. Ess. Inst, iii, 1862, 144 (Maine, autiunn and winter). — Aelev, ibid, iv, 1864, 



81 (Massachusetts). — ilcIiJ.WR., ibid, v, 1866, 82 (Haniiliou, C. W., lare in win- 

 ter). — Coues, ibid. V, 1868, 261 (New England).— Lawr.. Ann. Lye. N. Y. viii, 

 1866, 281 (Xew York, rave). — S.vMUEL.s. B. New Engl. 1867, ed ; Rep. Agric. JIuss. 

 1863, App. — Cooper apud .S.i.muels. 81 (Quebec, winter). — Aleex Am. Nat. iii, 

 1870, 569 (Massachusetts).— TURNI!., B. E. Pa. 1869, 41 (occasional in severe 

 winters). — Coop., B. Cal. i, 1870, 448 (not found in Caliibrnia). — Dael & Ban:;; , 

 Tr. Cliic. Acad, i, 1869, 274 (Alaska, very couimou, breeding). — JIerr., U. S. 

 Geol. Sur\-. Ter. 1872, 696. 



iSui-uia ulula var. hudsonia, Coues, Key, 1872, 205. — B. B. & R., N. A. B. iii, 1874, 75. 



Hab. — Northern North America. Breeds from Maine northward. In winter occa- 

 sionally south to Penns.ylvania and Illinois (liidgwai), Ann. Lye, N. Y. x, 1874, 379). 

 Bermudas {Dnimmoud, Jardine, Contr. Orn. 1850, 37). Not yet observed west ot the 

 Eocky Mountains. " Great Britain." Typical ulula European. 



Later Expeditions. — 62240, Madison River, Montana. 



Contrary to the opinion entertained by ornithologists, of the absolute identity of the 

 American and European Hawk Owls, they prove to form two distinguishable geo- 

 graphical races, the American bird being recognized without ditUculty by its darker 

 color, and the broader reddish-brown bars of the whole breast and belly, only a small 

 gorget being left white. According to the authors of the splendid work on the Birds 

 of Europe, from which a part of the foregoing synonymy is borrowed, it is the American 

 form, and not that of Continental Europe, which inhabits Great Britain, apparently to 

 the entire exclusion of the other. 



The distribution of the American Hawk Owl is quite Ml.\ worked out 

 in a communicatiou I bad tlie jjleasure of contributing to the work just 

 mentioned, and may be gathered with approximate accuracy from the 

 foregoing quotations.. The bird does not appear to ever wandet so iar 

 soitth as the Snowy Owl frequently does ; excepting the Bermnda in- 

 stance, I have never hea'-d of it .'^outh of Pennsylvania and Illinois, nor 

 has it been observed west of the Kocky Mountains. It is common in 

 the northern half of Xew England, in winter, and known to breed in 

 some parts of Maine; from Massachusetts southward its occurrence is 

 rare and fortuitous. 



As is well known, this species is the most diurnal in its habits of any 

 of the family, retiring to rest at night like an ordinary bird; and it is 

 the most hawk-like Owl, not only in its habits, but in physical aspect. 

 It feeds chiefly upon the field-mice {Arvicula) which swarm'in the sphag- 

 nous vegetation of arctic lands; also upon small birds, grasshoppers and 

 other'insects. It is stated to breed oftenest in the hollows ot trees, but 

 sometimes to construct a nest of sticks, grass, and feathers, among the 

 branches. The eggs range from five to eight in number, are white, and 

 measure from If to 1| in length by 1^ to 1| in breadth. Both sexes in- 

 cubate. The parents are represented as very spirited in the defence of 

 their home ; the male bird will even attack and wound an intruder with 



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