266 DAVENPORT ACADEMY OF SCIENCEvS. 



County records: Hancock — I have three specimens taken in 

 Hancock county, in typical pale plumage, one in April, 1891, 

 and one January 26, 1894; ^hot a fine male on the edge of a 

 grove near I^ake Edwards, November 14, 1898 (Anderson). 

 Johnson — Mus. No. 3347, female, January, 1887; rather pale, 

 facial disc browni.sh, feet dusky; ochraceous tint not very pro- 

 nounced but visible on nearly all parts. No. 3341, female, Jan- 

 uary iS, 1889 ; back whitish, slightly mottled and penciled with 

 dusky ; very little pale buffy on surface, .seen only on parting 

 feathers ; feet and tarsi pure white ; under parts white with 

 sparse transver.se marks and black spots on each side of breast ; 

 facial disc whitish ; a rather small bird — length, 13.25; wing, 14; 

 tail, 9.50; the general whitish appearance of this bird is very 

 clo.se to that of the typical Arctic Horned Owl, and is much 

 lighter in color than many specimens of the Snowy Owl. Linn 

 — " resident" (Bailey) ; " have found two nests of a very light- 

 colored variety of the Horned Owl — am not sure as to whether 

 this is 'Western' or 'Arctic'" (Berry). Monona — A University 

 mu.seum specimen taken at Little Sioux Dec. 8, 1884, is rather 

 pale, intermediate in type (Anderson). Woodbur}- — Mus. No. 

 11612, Sioux City, February, 1889, .shot by Chas. Hagelin, typical 

 pale bird: No. 11610, female, Sioux City, 1SB9, D. H. Talbot, has 

 feet nearly white ; dusky bars below about half as wide as white 

 bars, no dark patch on breast. 



The extreme variability in plumage of the. Western varieties of 

 the Horned Owl makes an accurate determination of the sub- 

 species very difficult. The typical ochraceous^tinted viroinianus 

 is b}' far the most common variety found in Iowa at all seasons, 

 w^hile the western form pallescens is quite often met with in win- 

 ter and perhaps nests occasionally, as the April record from 

 Hancock county {supra) would seem to indicate. The typical 

 northern variety ardicus probably occurs rarely in winter, or at 

 least, an intermediate between virginianus and ardicus (Witmer 

 Stone, supra). 



Genus NvcTEA Stephens. 



"^9- (376). Nvdca nydea (\Ji\\\\.). Snowy Owl. 



The Snowy Owl is a rather rare winter visitant in Iowa and 

 somewhat irregular in its occurrence. Some winters numbers are 



