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400 General Notes. ^^^ 



Further Notes on the Snowy Owl in Ontario. — Since mj letter of 

 March 3, 1902, was published bj Mr. Ruthven Deane, in his paper on the 

 Snowy Owl, in the July ' Auk,' further information has made it evident 

 that the migration in Ontario was a much more extensive one than I had 

 at first imagined. During March the females disappeared and were 

 replaced in April bj' the returning flight of light colored birds (males, as 

 far as I was able to examine). A few remained about Toronto Marsh all 

 through May, and a small light colored male Avas taken on June 7. It 

 was in excellent condition and showed no trace of being a wounded bird. 



Estimate of the number killed. — It soon became apparent that this 

 migration was no ordinary flight as regards numbers, and as answers to 

 my enquiries came in I saw that some other means of counting heads was 

 necessary. I then had recourse to the number of artificial owl eyes used 

 in Ontario during the migration. I was greatly helped by two facts ; first, 

 the almost total absence of Horned Owls from Ontario, or at least the 

 territory affected by the migration, and was thus able to eliminate the 

 possibility of many of the eyes being used for Horned Owls ; secondly, 

 nine-tenths of the eyes used by taxidermists, amateur or professional, in 

 Ontario are bought from three firms in Toronto. In one case I went over 

 all the orders and checked off the owl eyes ; in another I got a careful 

 estimate, and in the third I estimated the number from information as to 

 the extra eyes imported to meet the demand. I found that not less than 

 five hundred pairs of large owl eyes were sold in Ontario during this 

 migration ; and I believe the figure to be a low one, for not only were the 

 regular sizes exhausted, but any mellow eye that could be made to do duty 

 was used. From what I heard and saw I believe that less than half of the 

 owls killed were mounted ; and in going over the matter with Dr. Wm. 

 Brodie I found that he too had concluded that one thousand was within 

 the mark, though on different grounds. — J. H. Fleming, Toronto, Ontario. 



An Addition to the Avifauna of Virginia. — In a collection of birds made 

 during May, 1902, by the writer, in the Lake Drummond region of the 

 Dismal Swamp, there is a specimen of Hairy Woodpecker which proves 

 to be typical of the southern subspecies, Dryobates villosus audtibonii 

 (Swains.). Mr. William Palmer very kindly compared the specimen ( (J 

 ad., taken May 22, 1902, Washington ditch, i mile northwest of Lake 

 Drummond, Dismal Swamp, Nansemond County, Virginia; field number 

 32, coll. of J. W. D. Jr., Washington, D. C) with material in the National 

 Museum, and pronounces it referable to the southern race. Hitherto this 

 form has not been taken further north than North Carolina. — John W. 

 Daniel, Jr., Washington, D. C. 



A new Foster-parent of the Cowbird. — On April 28, 1902, 1 found in an 

 old log cabin a nest of Bewick's Wren, containing five fresh eggs of the 

 owner and one fresh egg of the Cowbird. This species I do not find 

 mentioned in any book, not even the late Maj. Chas. E. Bendire's monu- 



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