1924] Swarth: Birds and Mammals of the Skeena River Region 339 



from nesting grounds at lower altitudes. Abundant in Kispiox Valley 

 and about Hazelton during the latter part of August, and in lessening 

 numbers in September. Some were seen up to the time of my 

 departure, September 26. 



Fifteen specimens collected (nos. 42056-42070). Pull-grown young 

 were taken July 18. An adult female taken August 20 has finished the 

 annual molt ; an adult male taken on the same date, and another shot 

 September 7, are still in the midst of the change. 



Pandion haliaetus carolinensis (Gmelin). Osprey 



We fou:nd no ospreys breeding in the region covered, but about the 

 middle of August, with the coming of the salmon, the fish hawks began 

 to appear. During the latter part of August and throughout Septem- 

 ber, some were seen almost daily. 



Bubo virginianus lagophonus (Oberholser). Ruddy Horned Owl 



Exceedingly abundant throughout the lowlands. At our timber- 

 line camp on Nine-mile Mountain we neither saw nor heard horned 

 owls, but they were present everywhere in the valleys, and in unusual 

 numbers for a large, predatory bird. The abundance of rabbits in the 

 region may have caused a temporarj^ increase in the number of horned 

 owls. 



Twenty-one specimens were collected (nos. 42071-42091). Of these, 

 six are young, mostly down-covered (two in one brood, June 5 ; four 

 in one brood, June 24) ; the rest are young and old in fresh fall 

 plumage. Food was found in eight stomachs. In one case a young 

 owl had been fed a red squirrel, the others contained rabbit and 

 nothing else. This is noteworthy in vieAv of the general belief that 

 the horned owl is an inveterate enemy of grouse. These owls inhabited 

 the poplar woods, precisely the same environment as the ruffed grouse, 

 and ruffed grouse were abundant. 



Considerable color variation is shown in this series of owls, gray 

 colored birds at one extreme, brown colored at the other. The grayest 

 bird (no. 42091) was the last one shot, on September 9, and might be 

 assumed to be a migrant of a race other than the breeding form, but 

 there are earlier taken specimens in the series that are nearly as light 

 colored. I think it safe to say that the differences illustrate the extent 

 of individual variation existent in the subspecies lagophonus in this 

 one region. (For use of the name lagophonus, see Oberholser, 1904, 

 p. 185; Ridgway, 1914, p. 747.) 



