218 NOTES ON THE 



quite undisturbed, but with the disti'ibution of subsequent set- 

 tlements, an occasional bird fell before the farmer's gun. The 

 old, mature bird, always war3^ grew cautious, and gave the 

 vicinity of dwellings a wide berth. After a time Minnesota 

 became a famous resort for deer and Ruffed Grouse shooting, 

 late enough for sportsmen to catch a shot at a Snowy Owl. 

 Taxidermists all over the land offered high prices for them to 

 mount, which brought every boy with a shotgun in his posses- 

 sion into the field for them in particular. The consequence 

 has been to send the wary old, mature individuals of the spe- 

 cies around some other way, or make them exceedingly 

 arboreal in their habits in winter. For many years now, not 

 less than nine in every ten of them seen or collected, have 

 been the young of the year. Indeed, it is only occasionally met 

 with in the sections alluded to, even in the first plumage now, 

 but in the northern, swampier, and more heavily timbered 

 sections, it is as well represented as ever, so far as I can learn 

 from others and from personal observation. 



Sometimes earlier, but generally the first of these birds 

 arrive from the north about the 15th of November. They 

 remain until about the first of May. after which they are 

 seldom seen. 



It is emphatically a Grouse Owl, as any one who examines 

 the ingesta will readily see. It hunts its prey mostly in the 

 twilight of evening and morning, but has equally good day 

 vision, though manifestly preferring cloudy days when much 

 exposed. The nearly complete white plumage is only attained 

 in the third or fourth year. 



Mr. Lewis found them ' 'rather common for the species'" in 

 Becker county, and at Leech lake the 19th to 23d of Octo- 

 ber. Mr. Washburn met them "occasionally"' in Otter Tail 

 between October ninth and November tenth. Specimens of the 

 young were obtained during March and April, and in Novem- 

 ber of the present year (1887), within a few miles of Min- 

 neapolis and St. Paul. 



SPECIFIC CHARACTERS. 



Bill nearly concealed by projecting plumes; eyes large: 

 entire plumage white, frequently with a few spots or imperfect 

 bands, only on the upper parts dark brown, and on the under 

 parts with a few irregular and imperfect bars of the same; 

 quills and tail with a few spots, or traces of bands of the same 

 dark brown; the prevalence of the dark brown color varies 

 much in different specimens; frequehtly both upper and under 



