GREAT CINEREOUS OWL. 
131 
Townsend, and several brought to London by the medical officer who 
accompanied Captain Back in his late Arctic journey. Among the indivi- 
duals which I have examined I have found considerable differences as to 
size and markings, which may be attributed to age and sex. My drawing 
was taken from a remarkably fine specimen in the collection of the Zoo- 
logical Society of London. 
The comparatively small size of this bird’s eyes renders it probable that it 
hunts by day, and the remarkable smallness of its feet and claws induces 
me to think that it does not prey on lai’ge animals. Dr. Richardson says 
that “ it is by no means a rare bird in the Fur Countries, being an inhabi- 
tant of all the woody districts lying between Lake Superior and latitudes 
61° or 68°, and between Hudson’s Bay and the Pacific. It is common on 
the borders of Great Bear Lake ; and there, and in the higher parallels of 
latitude, it must pursue its prey, during the summer months, by day-light. 
It keeps however within the woods, and does not frequent the barren 
grounds, like the Snowy Owl, nor is it so often met with in broad day- 
light as the Hawk Owl, but hunts principally when the sun is low ; indeed, 
it is only at such times, when the recesses of the woods are deeply shadowed, 
that the American hare and the murine animals, on which the Cinereous 
Owl chiefly preys, come forth to feed. On the 23d 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.” 
Great Grey or Cinereous Owl, Strict cinerea, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 128. 
Cinereous Owl, Strix cinerea , Swainsand Rich. F. Bor. Amer., vol. ii. p. 7Y 
Great Cinereous Owl, Strix cinerea , Aud. Orn. Biog., vol, iv. p. 364. 
Upper parts greyish-brown, variegated with greyish-white in irregular 
undulated markings ; the feathers on the upper part of the head with two 
transverse white spots on each web ; the smaller wing-coverts of a darker 
brown, and less mottled than the back ; the outer scapulars with more white 
on their outer webs ; primaries blackish-brown toward the end, in the rest of 
their extent marked with a few broad light-grey oblique bands, dotted and 
