ANATOMY OF BIRDS
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION
MIGRATIONS OF BIRDS
CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS
LIZARD-TAILED BIRD
AMERICAN TOOTHED-BIRDS
THE OSTRICHES
THE RHEAS
EMEUS AND CASSOWARIES
THE TINAMOUS
THE KIWIS
THE PENGUINS
LOONS AND GREBES
ALBATROSSES & PETRELS
STORK-LIKE BIRDS
GOOSE-LIKE BIRDS
FALCON-LIKE BIRDS
FOWL-LIKE BIRDS
CRANE-LIKE BIRDS
PLOVER-LIKE BIRDS
CUCKOO-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
SPARROW-LIKE BIRDS
Birds and Birding's Guide to:
Watching THE ROLLER-LIKE BIRDS
THE ROLLERS AND THEIR ALLIES
THE OWLS
The American Hawk Owl
(S. u. caparoch) is a very dark colored geographical race, in which the black or brownish of head, hind neck, and scapular region predominates over the white, and the bars below are broader and darker. It ranges from Alaska, through the central evergreen forest region to Newfoundland, and wanders southward in winter to the northern border of the United States.”
The Hawk Owl,”says Dr. Fisher,”is strictly diurnal, as much so as any of the Hawks, and like some of them often selects a tall stub or dead-topped tree in a comparatively open place for a perch, where it sits in the bright sunlight watching for its prey. Although its flight is swift and Hawk-like, it has nevertheless the soft, noiseless character common to the other Owls. When starting from any high place, such as the top of a tree, it usually pitches downward nearly to the ground, and flies off rapidly over the tops of the bushes or high grass, abruptly rising again as it seeks another perch. Its note is a shrill cry, which is uttered generally while the bird is on the wing."
This species begins nesting at an early date, even in the far North often having eggs early in April. The nest is variously placed, being sometimes a hollow in a coniferous tree, at other times a repaired nest of some large bird, and rarely it appears to be located on the face of some large cliff. When the eggs are placed in a cavity, no nesting material is used other than the chips and powdered wood ordinarily present, but when in a nest outside, it is carefully renovated and usually lined with moss and feathers. The eggs number from three to seven, and are incubated by both parents in turn, and if threatened by marauders, are defended with vigor. This bird subsists almost entirely on small mammals, as Jemmings and mice, varied occasionally with Ptarmigan and other birds.
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