_Strix cinerea_, GMEL. Syst. Nat. p. 291, 1788.—LATH. Ind. Orn. p.
58, 1790; Syn. I, 134; Supp. I, 45; Gen. Hist. I, 337.—VIEILL. Nouv.
Dict. Hist. Nat. VII, 23, 1816; Enc. Méth. III, 1289; Ois. Am. Sept.
I, 48.—RICH. & SWAINS. F. B. A. II, pl. xxxi, 1831.—BONAP. Ann.
Lyc. N. Y. II, 436; Isis, 1832, p. 1140.—AUD. Birds Am. pl. cccli,
1831; Orn. Biog. IV, 364.—NUTT. Man. p. 128.—TYZENHAUZ, Rev. Zoöl.
1851, p. 571. _Syrnium cinereum_, AUD. Synop. p. 26, 1839.—CASS.
Birds Cal. & Tex. p. 184, 1854; Birds N. Am. 1858, p. 56.—BREW.
(WILS.) Am. Orn. p. 687.—DE KAY, Zoöl. N. Y. II, 26, pl. xiii, f. 29,
1844.—STRICKL. Orn. Syn. I, 188, 1855.—NEWB. P. R. R. Rept. VI, IV,
77, 1857.—COOP. & SUCK. P. R. R. Rept. XII, II, 156, 1860.—KAUP, Tr.
Zoöl. Soc. IV, 1859, 256.—DALL & BANNISTER, Tr. Chicago Acad. I, 1869,
173.—GRAY, Hand List, I, 48, 1869.—MAYNARD, Birds Eastern Mass., 1870,
130.—_Scotiaptex cinerea_, SWAINS. Classif. Birds, II, 217, 1837.
_Syrnium lapponicum_, var. _cinereum_, COUES, Key, 1872, 204. _Strix
acclamator_, BART. Trans. 285, 1792.
SP. CHAR. _Adult._ Ground-color of the upper surface dark vandyke-brown,
but this relieved by a transverse mottling (on the edges of the
feathers) of white, the medial portions of the feathers being scarcely
variegated, causing an appearance of obsolete longitudinal dark
stripes, these most conspicuous on the scapulars and back. The anterior
portions above are more regularly barred transversely; the white bars
interrupted, however, by the brown medial stripe. On the rump and
upper tail-coverts the mottling is more profuse, causing a grayish
appearance. On the wing-coverts the outer webs are most variegated by
the white mottling. The alula and primary coverts have very obsolete
bands of paler; the secondaries are crossed by nine (last terminal, and
three concealed by coverts) bands of pale grayish-brown, inclining to
white at the borders of the spots; primaries crossed by nine transverse
series of quadrate spots of mottled pale brownish-gray on the outer
webs, those beyond the emargination obscure,—the terminal crescentic
bar distinct, however; upper secondaries and middle tail-feathers with
coarse transverse mottling, almost forming bars. Tail with about nine
paler bands, these merely marked off by parallel, nearly white bars,
enclosing a plain grayish-brown, sometimes slightly mottled space, just
perceptibly darker than the ground-color; basally the feathers become
profusely mottled, so that the bands are confused; the last band is
terminal. Beneath with the ground-color grayish-white, each feather of
the neck, breast, and abdomen with a broad, longitudinal ragged stripe
of dark brown, like the ground-color of the upper parts; sides, flanks,
crissum, and lower tail-coverts with regular transverse narrow bands;
legs with finer, more irregular, transverse bars of dusky. “Eyebrows,”
lores, and chin grayish-white, a dusky space at anterior angle of
the eye; face grayish-white, with distinct concentric semicircles of
blackish-brown; facial circle dark brown, becoming white across the
foreneck, where it is divided medially by a spot of brownish-black,
covering the throat.
♂ (32,306, Moose Factory, Hudson Bay Territory; J. McKenzie).
Wing-formula, 4=5, 3, 6–2, 7–8–9, 1. Wing, 16.00; tail, 11.00; culmen,
1.00; tarsus, 2.30; middle toe, 1.50.
♀ (54,358, Nulato, R. Am., April 11, 1868; W. H. Dall). Wing-formula,
4=5, 3, 6–2, 7–8–9, 1. Wing, 18.00; tail, 12.50; culmen, 1.00; tarsus,
2.20; middle toe, 1.70.
HAB. Arctic America (resident in Canada?). In winter extending into
northern borders of United States (Massachusetts, MAYNARD).
The relationship between the _Syrnium cinereum_ and the _S. lapponicum_
is exactly parallel to that between the _Otus vulgaris_, var.
_wilsonianus_, and var. _vulgaris_, _Surnia ulula_, var. _hudsonia_, and
the var. _ulula_, and _Nyctale tengmalmi_, var. _richardsoni_, and the
var. _tengmalmi_. In conformity to the general rule among the species
which belong to the two continents, the American race of the present
bird is very decidedly darker than the European one, which has the
whitish mottling much more prevalent, giving the plumage a lighter and
more grayish aspect. The white predominates on the outer webs of the
scapulars. On the head and neck the white equals the dusky in extent,
while on the lower parts it largely prevails. The longitudinal stripes
of the dorsal region are much more conspicuous in _lapponicum_ than in
_cinereum_.
[Illustration: _Syrnium cinereum._]
A specimen in the Schlütter collection, labelled as from “Nord-Europa,”
is not distinguishable from North American examples, and is so very
unlike the usual Lapland style that we doubt its being a European
specimen at all.
HABITS. The Great Gray or Cinereous Owl appears to be confined to the
more northern portions of North America. It is rarely met with in any
part of the United States, and only in winter, with the exception of
Washington Territory, where it is presumed to be a resident. It is also
said to be a resident in Canada, and to be found in the vicinity of
Montreal. Mr. Lawrence does not include this bird in his list of the
birds of New York, but Mr. Turnbull states that several have been taken
as far south as New Jersey. Throughout New England it is occasional in
the winter, but comparatively rare. Mr. Allen did not hear of any having
been taken near Springfield. On the coast of Massachusetts they are of
infrequent occurrence, and are held at high prices. A fine specimen
was shot in Lynn in the winter of 1872, and is now in the collection
of my nephew, W. S. Brewer. On the Pacific coast it is resident as far
south as the mouth of the Columbia, and is found in winter in Northern
California.
Dr. Richardson met with this Owl in the fur regions, where it seemed to
be by no means rare. He mentions it as an inhabitant of all the wooded
districts which lie between Lake Superior and latitude 67° and 68°,
and between Hudson’s Bay and the Pacific. It was common on the borders
of Great Bear Lake, in which region, as well as in a higher parallel
of latitude, it pursues its prey during the summer months by daylight.
It was observed to keep constantly within the woods, and was not seen
to frequent the barren grounds, in the manner of the Snowy Owl, nor
was it so often met with in broad daylight as the Hawk Owl, apparently
preferring to hunt when the sun was low and the recesses of the woods
deeply shadowed, when the hares and other smaller quadrupeds, upon which
it chiefly feeds, were most abundant.
On the 23d of May, Dr. Richardson discovered a nest of this Owl, built
on the top of a lofty balsam-poplar, composed of sticks, with a lining
of feathers. It contained three young birds, covered with a whitish
down, to secure which it was necessary to cut down the tree. While this
was going on, the parent birds flew in circles around the tree, keeping
out of gun-shot, and apparently undisturbed by the light. The young
birds were kept alive for several weeks, but finally escaped. They had
the habit, when any one entered the room in which they were kept, of
throwing themselves back and making a loud snapping noise with their
bills.
In February, 1831, as Audubon was informed, a fine specimen of one
of these Owls was taken alive in Marblehead, Mass., having been seen
perched upon a woodpile early in the morning. It was obtained by Mr.
Ives, of Salem, by whom it was kept several months. It was fed on fish
and small birds, and ate its food readily. It would at times utter a
tremulous cry, not unlike that of the common Screech-Owl (_Scops asio_),
and manifested the greatest antipathy to cats and dogs.
Dr. Cooper found this bird near the mouth of the Columbia River, in a
brackish meadow partially covered with small spruce-trees, where they
sat concealed during the day, or made short flights from one to another.
Dr. Cooper procured a specimen there in June, and has no doubt that
the bird is resident and breeds in that neighborhood. He regards it as
somewhat diurnal in its habits, and states that it is especially active
toward sunset.
Dr. Newberry speaks of this Owl as one generally distributed over the
western part of the continent, he having met with it in the Sacramento
Valley, in the Cascade Mountains, in the Des Chutes Basin, and in
Oregon, on the Columbia River. Mr. Robert MacFarlane found it in great
abundance in the Anderson River region. On the 19th of July, as we
find in one of his memoranda, he met with a nest of this species near
Lockhart River, on the route to Fort Good Hope. The nest was on the top
of a pine-tree, twenty feet from the ground. It contained two eggs and
two young, both of which were dead. The nest was composed of sticks and
mosses, and was lined thinly with down. The female was sitting on the
nest, but left it at his approach, and flew to a tree at some distance,
where she was shot.
Mr. Donald Gunn writes that the Cinereous Owl is to be found both in
summer and in winter throughout all the country commonly known as the
Hudson Bay Territory. He states that it hunts by night, preys upon
rabbits and mice, and nests in tall poplar-trees, usually quite early in
the season.
A single specimen of this Owl was taken at Sitka by Bischoff, and
on the 20th of April Mr. Dall obtained a female that had been shot
at Takitesky, about twenty miles east of the Yukon, near Nulato. He
subsequently obtained several specimens in that region. Mr. Dall
describes it as very stupid, and easy to be caught by the hand during
the daytime. From its awkward motions its Indian name of _nūhl-tūhl_,
signifying “heavy walker,” is derived. So far as observed by Mr. Dall,
this Owl appeared to feed principally upon small birds, and he took no
less than thirteen crania and other remains of _Ægiothus linaria_ from
the crop of a single bird.
Specimens of this Owl have also been received by the Smithsonian
Institution, collected by Mr. Kennicott, from Fort Yukon and from
Nulato; from Mr. J. McKenzie, Moose Factory; from J. Lockhart, obtained
at Fort Resolution and at Fort Yukon; from J. Flett, at La Pierre
House; from B. R. Ross, at Big Island; and from Mr. S. Jones and Mr. J.
McDougall, at Fort Yukon. These were all taken between February 11 and
July 19.
One of the eggs of this Owl, referred to above in Mr. MacFarlane’s note,
is in my cabinet. It is small for the size of the bird, and is of a
dull soiled-white color, oblong in shape, and decidedly more pointed at
one end than at the other. It measures 2.25 inches in length by 1.78 in
breadth. The drawing of an egg of this species, made by Mr. Audubon from
a supposed specimen of an egg of this species, referred to in the “North
American Oölogy,” and which measured 2.44 by 2.00 inches, was probably a
sketch of the egg of the Snowy Owl.
Syrnium nebulosum, GRAY.