220 MEMOIRS OF THE NUTTALL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



was inclined to doubt his statement, but Bendire ^ gives an incident taken from 

 Forest and Stream, of a Screech Owl attacking a Plymouth Rock rooster 

 weighing nine pounds. 



On opening his camp at Wenham Lake on February 3d, 1901, Dr. Phillips 

 found "a live Screech Owl as sole occupant. He had apparently been there a 

 week or so, having come down the chimney." 



165 [37s] Bubo virginianus (Gmel.). 

 Great Horned Owl. 



Not uncommon permanent resident. 



Eggs : April 20. 



The date given above for eggs is a late one ; the nest was found by 

 Mr. W. A. Jeffries. It is probable that most of the birds nest in the latter part 

 of February or in March. 



166 [376] Nyctea nyctea (Linn.). 

 Snowy Owl. 



Irregular, but at times common visitor in the late autumn, less common in 

 winter and early spring ; November 4 to April 9. 



The largest recorded flight of these Owls occurred in the autumn of 1876. 

 Mr. Ruthven Deane^ says : "About the first of November, 1876, large numbers 

 suddenly appeared along our coast .... I first heard of them on our Massachu- 

 setts coast as frequenting the islands off Rockport, where numbers were taken. 

 One gunner spoke of seeing fifteen at once on a small island one foggy morning, 

 nearly half of which he procured. As the Owls flew around over the rocks 

 uttering their weird cries, they presented a scene of rare occurrence in New 

 England. . . . Many of the specimens were in exceedingly poor condition. . . . The 

 cause of the sudden visit of such an unusual multitude of these boreal birds, 

 coming as they did when the weather for a few days was unusually warm for the 

 season, the thermometer standing at 75° at noonday, is a question not easily 

 solved." 



'Charles Bendire: Life Histories of North American Birds, vol. i, p. 357, 1892. 

 'Ruthven Deane : Bull. Nuttall Cm. Club, vol. 2, p. 9, 1877. 



