478 General Notes. [o"t. 



The Status of Buteo platyptcrus iowensis. — The new race of Buteo 

 platypterus described by the late Prof. B. H. Bailey as Buteo platypterus 

 iowensis (' The Auk,' XXXIV, No. 1, January, 1917, p. 73) was based on a 

 specimen from Eagle Lake, Hancock County, Iowa. Its distinction from 

 Buteo platypterus platypterus consists in its sooty brown plumage both 

 above and below; and its geographic distribution extends from Manitoba 

 to Iowa. It develops, however, on further investigation that examples of 

 Buteo platypterus of the ordinary light type inhabit the same breeding 

 range in Manitoba, Minnesota, and North Dakota. Since, of course, two 

 geographic races of the same species cannot have identical breeding areas, 

 it follows that we must seek some other reason for the existence of the dark 

 Broad-winged Hawks that live in the upper Mississippi Valley. Mr. 

 Robert Ridgway has already recorded (Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., IX, 1886, p. 

 248) a dark Buteo platypterus from Iowa as an example of melanism in this 

 species; and this evidently is the correct explanation. That nearly all 

 these dark birds come from Iowa, Minnesota, and Manitoba is interesting, 

 but does not militate against the view of their melanistic character, for it 

 is well known that melanism and similar color phases may occur in one 

 part of the range of a species and be totally absent in another. Further- 

 more, melanism in the genus Buteo is of common occurrence; and notable 

 examples of this are Buteo borealis, Buteo swainsoni, and Buteo ferox. 

 From the foregoing it seems necessary to treat Buteo platypterus iowensis 

 as a synonym of Buteo platypterus platypterus. — Harry C. Oberholser. 



Flight of Horned Owls in Canada. — The article by Mr. Arthur W. 

 Brockway in ' The Auk ' (Vol. XXXV, No. 3) upon the ' Large Flight of 

 Great Horned Owls and Goshawks at Wadlyme, Connecticut ' has prompted 

 me to revert to the subject in connection with the phenonenon here. Any 

 occurrence of this nature is particularly interesting and especially so among 

 the Raptores of the North. 



His information regarding the early November flight in Canada is per- 

 fectly correct ; vast numbers having appeared at that time throughout the 

 country. Mr. C. W. Nash, of the Provincial Museum, Toronto, informed 

 me that hundreds of Great Horned Owls were noted in that region and in 

 every locality that I have visited the same news of excessive numbers of 

 these birds has reached me. 



Dining the latter part of October, 1917, and the fore part of November 

 I was in the wilderness northeast of Lake Superior. During my entire 

 time there, I never once heard an owl, although they are frequently heard 

 in wilderness camping. I remarked on the apparent absence of the species 

 at the time, and often sat alone on the quiet shores of the lake at night, 

 listening for the voice I had learned to enjoy, but not once did a lonely 

 " hoot " disturb the silence of the solitude. 



Every one there also remarked on the scarcity of the Varying Hare, as 

 compared with the numbers usually present. After the first fall of snow 



