Vol. XIX 

 1902 



1 Deane, Unusual Abundance of the Snoxvy Oivl. 275 



ruary 26, 1902, informs me that about fifty specimens were taken 

 in the immediate vicinity of the city, and that they were first 

 observed about December 10, 1901. 



Mr. Everett E. Johnston of Lewiston, Me., reports, under date 

 of March 3, 1902, that a few Snowy Owls were shot in his locality 

 in January and February, one of which was feeding on the carcass 

 of a dead horse at the time it was killed. 



Mr. F. W. Stanley, keeper of the Duck Island Light Station, 

 McKinley, Me., reports four specimens seen on the island about 

 January i, 1902. 



Massachusetts. 



Mr. M. Abbott Frazar of Boston, Mass., in writing under date 

 of February 19, 1902, advises me that the flight of Snowy Owls 

 was very much later than in former years, and that while he had 

 not kept any records this season, the proportion of birds was not 

 as great as in the recorded migrations of 1876 and 1892. 



Mr. Owen Durfee of Fall River, Mass., writes under date of 

 February 18, 1902, that the Snowy Owls were not nearly as 

 abundant as in the winter of 1890-91 ; the capture of about a 

 dozen birds, at various localities on the Rhode Island coast, had 

 oome to his notice, and that he had records of three which were 

 taken on the south shore of Martha's Vineyard. Contrary to the 

 observations of Maine ornithologists, Mr. Durfee states that this 

 season all records have been made on the coast, while in 1890 they 

 worked up the Seaconnet River and tributaries of Mount Hope 

 Bay to a much larger extent. One large, heavily barred specimen, 

 shot at Little Compton, R. I., on February 14, was reported by 

 the local taxidermist to be very fat and the stomach full of rats. 



Mr. John E. Thayer, of Lancaster, Mass., in writing me under 

 date of February 17, 1902, says: "I have not heard of any 

 unusual migration of the Snowy Owl in Worcester County. I think 

 in Maine there has been a great many this season, and I am 

 receiving frequent letters offering live specimens, especially from 

 Wells Beach, Me. They were reported to have been caught in 

 traps." 



