76 
THE HAWK OWL. 
facial disk, and in the Hawk Owl this disk, or “concha,” is not nearly so large or so well 
defined as in the other members of the same group. The eyes, too, are rather differently formed, 
as the bird is able to follow its prey by day as well as in the dark, and therefore requires 
a character of eye which will not be injured or half blinded by ordinary daylight. The 
plumage is closer than that of the generality of Owls, whose feathers are fringed with delicate 
downy filaments, for the purpose of enabling them to float noiselessly through the air, for the 
Hawk Owl is a swift-winged bird, and obtains its prey by fair chase. 
The food of the Canada Owl consists chiefly of rats, mice, and insects, during the summer 
months ; but in the winter, while rats and mice keep within their homes, and the insects are as 
yet in their pupa state, the Canada Owl turns its attention to birds, and will even chase and 
kill so powerful a prey as the ptar- 
migan. It is a very bold bird, and 
has been known to pounce upon and 
carry away wounded game that has 
fallen before the sportsman’s gun. 
While chasing the ptarmigan it fol- 
lows the course of their migration, 
hanging about the flocks and making 
sad havoc in their numbers. 
The Hawk Owl is an inhabitant 
of the more polar regions, being 
most commonly seen in the extreme 
north of Asia and America, though 
it sometimes pays a visit to North- 
ern Europe. Richardson tells us that 
it seldom travels farther south than 
Pennsylvania, but very few speci- 
mens having been noticed in that 
locality, and those only when the 
winter has been more than usually 
severe. 
Although so bold and so success- 
ful a hunter, the Hawk Owl is by no 
means a large bird, being only from 
fifteen to seventeen inches in length, 
and therefore not equalling the com- 
mon hen harrier in dimensions. Its 
nest is generally made on the summit 
of a tree, contrary to the usual habit 
of Owls, which usually take posses- 
sion of a hollow in some dead branch 
and lay their eggs on the soft decay- 
ing wood, or make their home in a convenient crevice of some old building. The male Hawk 
Owl is rather less than the female, as is the case with most predaceous birds. 
The general color of this bird is dark spotted brown above and striped white below, 
arranged briefly as follows : The top of the head and back is brown, covered with white spots, 
the spots disappearing at the insertion of the wings, where a large patch of very dark brown is 
placed. The outer edge of the concha is jetty black, and its inner surface is grayish-white. 
The throat is also white, and the chest and abdomen are of the same tint, marked with 
a number of irregular stripes of ashen-brown. The tail is brown, covered with a few nar- 
row intercepted black bands. The legs are feathered as far as the claws, and the bill is 
yellow with a few spots of black. These colors are slightly variable in individuals, owing 
most probably to the diflerence of age, and in the female they are not so bright as in her 
mate. 
