CATALOGUE OF CANADIAN BIRDS. 283 



powerful bird is common in the more northern parts of America. 

 It frequents in summer the most arctic lands and hunts in the 

 day as indeed it has to do. When I have seen it on the Barren 

 Grounds it was generally squatting on the earth, and if put up it 

 alighted after a short flight. It preys on lemmings, hares and 

 birds. It makes its nest on the ground and generally lays four 

 eggs. {Richardson}^ North to Fort Norman ; rare. (Ross.) This 

 species is not plentiful in the Anderson country and we never 

 secured an egg. {Macfarlane^ From the Sitkan region north to 

 the farthest point of Alaska this species keeps mainly to the more 

 barren portions of the coast and interior, and always is found less 

 numerous where trees are abundant. It occurs also on the islands 

 in Behring Sea and more sparingly on the Aleutian chain. (NeUoti. 

 Turner) This bird maybe said to be a resident at Point Barrow, 

 although in the depths of winter it retreats with the ptarinigan 

 back to the " deer country," that is, to the valleys of the large 

 rivers running into the Arctic Ocean east of Point Barrow. 

 {Murdoch!) Not unfrequently seen near the entrance to the 

 Fraser River. {Lord?) Resident in the northern portions of the 

 province ; south during some winters only, to the mouth of the 

 Fraser and Vancouver Island. {Fannin?) An irregular migrant 

 at Chilliwack, B.C. ; occasionally seen in winter at Lake Okana- 

 gan, B.C. ; several mounted specimens were in the Cariboo dis- 

 trict. {Brooks?) I found the snowy owl unexpectedly scarce in 

 the vicinity of Kotzebue Sound and when seen were mostly single 

 individuals. {Grinnell?) This beautiful bird may be seen close to 

 my house at Kew Beach, Toronto, almost every day in the winter, 

 but they are very wary. They perch on the ice floes along the 

 beach and keep out of gun range. My neighbour, Mr. Harold 

 Douglas, shot one Nov. 28th, 1901. When wounded they are very 

 ferocious and a dog is afraid to attack them as they throw them- 

 selves on their backs and strike out rapidly with their sharp, 

 strong claws, and woe to the dog that gets his face struck by the 

 claws of a wounded white owl. This bird breeds within the 

 Arctic Circle. {W.Raine?) Usually seen on the Pribylov Islands, 

 Behring Sea, in winter but occasionally in summer. ( Wm. Palmer?) 



Breeding Notes. — In Bendire's " Life Histories of N. A. Birds'" 

 is a record of a snowy owl nesting in Manitoba and having eggs 

 advanced in incubation in the middle of February, but the time 

 of the year — Manitoba midwinter — is sufficient to pronounce this 



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