48 
Capt. Blakiston on the Birds of the 
to regard them all as B. virginianus , and to attribute the differ¬ 
ences in their colours to variety only, either local or caused by 
accidental circumstances. With but a single well-characterized 
specimen of each of the four varieties, the inducement would 
be strong to regard them as distinct species, so different are their 
colours; but with an extended series (thirty specimens) like the 
present, all the characters exist in such various degrees of modi¬ 
fication, and are so blended, that it is to us quite impossible.” 
The two specimens obtained by myself, which differed very 
considerably in colour, were taken at Fort Carlton, on the north 
branch, near the forks of the Saskatchawan Fiver, at which lone 
habitation I spent my first winter (1857-58) in thelndian country. 
The dark-coloured one was trapped during mid-winter by one of 
the half-breed Hudson's Bay Company's men, in a snare set in 
the woods for rabbits, or, as I should properly call them, hares 
(Lepus americanus). The second was not so easily caught. It 
was near the end of March, on a stormy day, that I trudged 
along the side of a narrow wooded ravine, which, opening from 
the river valley near the fort, runs some distance back into 
the plain, the general level of which is about 200 feet above 
the river. I was on my usual ornithological walk, which it 
was my custom to take daily, in the afternoon, after my share of 
the labours of magnetical observations was over. As I proceeded, 
I started a large light-coloured Owl, but having the buffalo-leather 
cover on my fowling-piece, as is the usual custom of the Indian 
country, I was not ready for him when he rose. He alighted 
near the head of the ravine, and I followed; but, before getting 
within shot, he started again. From this point a continuous 
line of clumps of aspens and willows, with clear spaces between 
them, stretch out on the prairie. Many a long chase have Owls 
led me at different times, but I think this was one of the longest. 
As I advanced, Mr. Arcticus (if we may so call him) continually 
shifted his position further and further along the line of 
clumps, so that I found it impossible to get within two or three 
gun-shots of him. At one moment I lost the run of him alto¬ 
gether, and was nearly abandoning the chase, when I again espied 
my friend; but again he changed his position, and dived some_ 
where into the middle of large-sized coppice. I now bethought 
