78 NORTHERN ZOOLOGY. 



to feed. On the 23rd of May, I discovered a nest of this Owl, built on the 

 top of a lofty balsam-poplar, of sticks, and lined with feathers. It contained 

 three young, which were covered with a whitish down. We got them by 

 felling the tree, which was remarkably thick ; and whilst this operation was 

 going on, the two parent birds flew in circles round the objects of their cares, 

 keeping, however, so high in the air as to be out of gunshot : they did not appear 

 to be dazzled by the light. The young ones were kept alive for two months, when 

 they made their escape. They had the habit, common also to other Owls, of 

 throwing themselves back, and making a loud snapping noise with their bills, 

 when any one entered the room in which they were kept. — R. 



This bird has the posterior half of its bill covered with cere, rounded or swelled 

 out on the sides, and very slightly arched on the ridge ; the curved point mode- 

 rately compressed, much resembling that of Strix brachyota. Its auditory concha 

 is much larger than that of S. (Bubo) Virginiana, but very considerably less in 

 proportion than that of Strix brachyota, though the operculum is larger than in 

 this bird. — Sw. 



DESCRIPTION 



Of a specimen, in very perfect plumage, killed at Great Bear Lake, in lat. C5°, supposed to be a male. 



Colour of the bill yellow. Irides bright gamboge-yellow. That part of the facial dis Jc 

 which is next the bill is composed of hair-like feathers, which are black at the base, and white, 

 with black shafts, upwards : the posterior part of the disk consists of feathers, having short, 

 distinct, wiry-looking barbs of a greyish-white colour, tinged in some places with brown, and 

 crossed by black bars, which form six concentric rings round the orbit. Posterior to the disk 

 there is a semicircle of shining yellowish- brown, barred with blackish-brown, and edged on each 

 side of the throat with white, having a satiny lustre. This semicircle forms the posterior border 

 of the auricular concha, but extends beyond it. The whole dorsal aspect is of a dark-brown 

 colour, irregularly barred and mixed with greyish-white, inferior to the brown in quantity, the 

 markings somewhat resembling in form those of Strix Virginiana. The spurious vAng feathers 

 are clove-brown, with some slight white mottlings on their exterior webs ; and the primary 

 coverts have the same colour, crossed by three lighter bars. The primaries are also clove- 

 brown, and are crossed by from six to eight bars, of which the five next the quills are greyish- 

 white, mixed in a mottled manner with an equal quantity of brown ; the other bars next the 

 tips are merely a shade lighter than the intervening spaces. The secondaries and tertiaries 

 are barred like the bases of the primaries. The tail is clove-brown, crossed by eight or nine 

 bars, which are each formed of two white lines, edged and separated by brown ; the last bar 

 occupies the tip of the tail. The ventral aspect is clove-brown, with short transverse bars of 

 white, that do not reach the shafts of the feathers. The feet are greyish- white, finely barred 

 with brown. 



Form, &c. — Head large. Bill broad above, tumid on the sides, and scarcely arched as 



