The Great Gray Owl 



landmark and through a fine forest of red fir. On the previous days' 

 attendance of this line, distant glimpses were had, morning or evening, 

 of a large bird in silent flight among the trees. On the day of discovery, 

 however, the diminutive kinglet pointed the way and really deserves all the 

 credit. From a distance through the forest came the low but insistent 

 wer-rup, wer-rup, wer-rup of a Ruby-crown, its unmistakable note of 

 anxiety. This clue was traced by the expectant naturalist to a tall fir, out 

 from near the summit of which there presently flew a great owl. The bird 

 alighted at the top of a Jeffrey pine nearby, where it was shot, and (giving 

 several deep-pitched whoo's), fell to the ground wounded. At this, another 

 owl appeared in flight from one fir top to another, and was also secured. 



"For purposes of photography the wounded bird was taken back to 

 camp alive. Its huge facial discs, each centered by a great yellow-irised 

 eye, its snapping bill, and its spasmodically clenching claws, all contrib- 

 uted to profound respect on our part when handling it, and in securing 

 pictures. 



"On succeeding days when a careful search of the vicinity was made, 

 a large nest of sticks, one hundred feet above the ground on the close-set 

 branches of a fir next to the trunk, was found, which, it is thought, be- 

 longed to the owls. No close examination of it was made. On June 19 in 

 the same stretch of woods the deep notes of an owl were heard three times 

 repeated, but the bird could not be located. This time the kinglets failed us. 



"The two specimens secured proved to be male and female, probably 

 a mated pair. As is usual with owls, the female was slightly larger, meas- 

 uring: total length 595 millimeters (nearly two feet); expanse of wings 

 1370 millimeters (four and one-half feet). The male measured: length 

 580 millimeters; expanse 1350. In both birds the iris was bright straw 

 yellow; bill greenish, becoming yellow towards tip; claws lead-color, 

 darkening towards tips. The stomach of each bird was empty. 



"As an indubitable indication of her breeding during the current 

 nesting season, the female was found to have a large bare tract on the 

 lower surface of her body, including the belly and insides of the thighs, 

 from which the larger feathers had all been removed. Associated with 

 this condition, directly beneath the bare skin, were layers of fat, though 

 the bird was otherwise lean. As is well known, many birds show, during 

 the nesting season, the same or similar adaptations for the better perform- 

 ance of the functions of incubation. The male Great Gray Owl lacked 

 any such modifications, and we may infer that in this species the female 

 alone performs the duty of incubation. The reproductive organs of both the 

 birds indicated that the time of actual egg-laying was long past. It seems 

 more than likely that a brood of young had been reared in the vinicity and, 

 approaching maturity, had scattered out through the adjacent woods. 



1098 



