HABITS. The American form of the Hawk Owl inhabits the northern portions of both continents, and is common in the Arctic portions. On the Atlantic coast of this continent it has been found as far south as Philadelphia and the State of New Jersey, but its presence south of latitude 45° is probably only occasional and rather rare. The European form, according to Mr. Dresser, has not been known to exist in the British Islands, but several instances are quoted of the occurrence of the American form in Great Britain. One was taken off the coast of Cornwall in March, 1830; another was shot near Yatton, in Somersetshire, on a sunny afternoon in August, 1847; a third had previously been taken at Maryhill, near Glasgow, in December, 1863. On the Pacific coast it has not been taken farther south than Alaska, though it is quite probable it may yet be found to be an occasional visitant in Washington Territory and Oregon, and even the northern portions of California. It remains all the winter in high northern latitudes, and the instances of its having been taken even in Massachusetts, so far as is now known, are not many. Wilson only met with two specimens. Audubon and Nuttall never met with one of these birds alive. [Illustration: _Surnia ulula._] Mr. Downes states that the Hawk Owl is very abundant in Nova Scotia in the winter time in some years, but may not be seen again for four or five seasons. It is common in Newfoundland, where it breeds in the Caribou districts. Mr. Downes often kept living specimens in confinement, which had been taken on board the Cunard steamers off the coast. Mr. Boardman gives this species as resident, though rare, in the neighborhood of Calais, being occasionally found there in the breeding-season. In Oxford County, Maine, Professor A. E. Verrill says it is a common autumnal and winter visitant, and that it is quite abundant from the first of November to the middle of March, but not found there in the summer. Mr. Allen has never met with it in Western Massachusetts. Near Boston, in some seasons, it is not uncommon, though never occurring with any frequency, and only singly. It is found throughout the State, and is probably more common late in November than at any other time; several having been taken in Westfield, and also in Berkshire County, among the Green Mountains. I am not aware that any have been taken farther south than Philadelphia, near which city Mr. Edward Harris obtained one specimen, while another was shot at Haddington in 1866. Mr. McIlwraith calls it a rare winter visitant near Hamilton, Canada.