'NORTH AMI-J/ilCAN BIRDS. 



237 



in the spring of 1872. . A nest was found April 17, which appeared to have been built 

 by the birds themselves, and was placed about thirty feet from the ground; composed 

 'of small sticks and twigs, lined with grasses, bark and a few feathers. It contained 

 one white globular egg. Mr. Ridgway gives the size of an egg as 2.05x1.80. Mr. 

 Norris has a set of two eggs collected by E. M. Halght, near Riverside, California, 

 May 19, 1885. They measure 2.11x1.67, 2.12x1.68; they were laid on the bare ground 

 at the base of a large rock. 



370. GREAT GRAY OWL. ScoUiHcj- ciiicrcu (Gmel.) Geog. Dist.— Arctic 

 America, south in winter to the northern border of the United States. 



An immense owl — one of the largest in North America, — round-headed and very 

 much resembling the Barred Owl in appearance. It breeds far northward. Dr. 

 Richardson met with this species in the fur regions and found it common on the 

 borders of Great Bear Lake, keeping constantly in the woods, hunting hares arid 

 other smaller quadrupeds. May 23 a nest was found built on the top pt a lofty 

 balsam-poplar, composed of sticks with a lining of feathers. Mr. Macfarlane found 

 this Owl abundant in the Anderson River region, and on July i9 discovered a nest 

 built in the top of a pine tree, twenty feet from the ground; it was composed of 

 sticks, mosses and thinly lined with down. The eggs are white, two or three in 

 number, and the average size given is 2.16x1.71. 



[370a.] LAPP OWL. Scoliaptex cinerea 

 Arctic portions of the Old World; accidental 

 in Alaska (Norton Sounu). 



A lighter colored bird than the Great 

 Gray Owl, and is given a place in our 

 avifauna on the grounds of a single specimen 

 brought to Mr. L. M. Turner from the Yukon 

 Delta April 15, 1876. According to Dresser 

 this Owl is considered one of the rarest in- 

 habiting the Polar Arctic region, and Is al- 

 most entirely confined to the more boreal 

 districts, where it Is a resident in the upper 

 portions of the forest belt, but rarely strag- 

 gling lower into the northern parts of Cen- 

 tral Europe. It has not been met with in 

 Great Britain, Greenland or Iceland, but is 

 found throughout the northern portions of 

 the Scandinavian Peninsula. The nests of 

 the Lapp Owl are built chiefly in fir trees, 

 often at considerable heights. They are com- 

 posed of sticks, small twigs, heather, and 

 sometimes are made of any kind of rubbish 

 near at hand. The eggs are from two to six 

 in number, pure white, but have a finer shell 

 texture than those of the Great Horned Owl. 

 Two sets of this bird's eggs are in the collec- 

 tion of Mr. C. W. Crandall, of Woodside, New 

 York. One is of six eggs, taken near Kittlla. 

 Lapland, April 8, 1891. The measurements 

 of the eggs are as follows: 2.16x1.67, 2.17x 

 1.68, 2.31x1.71, 2.25x1.66, 2.12x1.70, 2.09x1.61 

 inches. The nest was placed high up in a 



lapponica (Retz.) Geog. Dist.- 



:J7ua. Lapp Owl (From Turner) 



