1920 J General Notes. 309 



Colaptes auratus luteus. Northern Flicker. — A single individual 

 was seen in a low, wooded area along the Iowa river one mile south of 

 Iowa City. It was very wary and a close-up observation of the bird was 

 impossible. This form has been reported in winter a few times locally 

 but I have seen no published record of such occurrence. 



Anderson (I. c. 278) remarks as follows concerning this bird: "Occa- 

 sionally individuals are observed in winter. In Winnebago County, I 

 have seen specimens in November, December and February, but very 

 rarely during these months." Spurrell (Wilson Bull., XXI, No. 4, 1919, 

 120) gives the Northern Flicker as a rare winter resident in Sac County, 

 western Iowa. 



Pipilo erythropthalmus erythropthalmus. Towhee. — One indi- 

 vidual, a male, was found in a sparsely wooded and somewhat sheltered 

 hollow three-fourths of a mile west of town. Several houses are in the 

 immediate vicinity of the brush pile where the bird was first seen and which 

 probably served as his shelter. Attention was first called to the bird by 

 the familiar "chewink" which was uttered several times; however, the calls 

 were neither so loud nor so frequently given as is characteristic of the 

 species in spring and summer. In an attempt to photograph this unusual 

 winter resident, the writer approached to within fifteen feet of the bird 

 when it flew to a nearby blackberry patch. It seemed to have a dislike 

 for standing in the snow and immediately hopped upon a low bush; when 

 pressed too closely it flew away a considerable distance before alighting. 



Anderson (I. c. 326) gives this bird as a common summer resident. His 

 winter records are as follows: A few in Van Buren County, a female 

 near the Rock Island Arsenal and another individual at Webster City. — 

 Dayton Stoner, University of Iowa, Iowa City, la. 



Notes on Winter Birds of the Missouri Ozarks. — On February 2, 

 1920, after about five days of very warm weather for this time of year, I 

 observed three Killdeers feeding together in a horse lot beside a slough. 

 The previous earliest date in the spring, for Missouri, is February 17. 

 Though I took no specimens, I was too close for any possibility of error 

 in my identification. 



On January 2, 1920, I saw and listened to a Bewick's Wren singing his 

 full song for almost an hour. The day on which I heard him singing was 

 very warm for January. Although I have observed the Bewick's Wren 

 several times this winter, this is the first time that I had heard one singing 

 since late in November. Up to date, February 7, I have not heard an- 

 other. 



On February 4, a friend brought me a fine female specimen of the Great 

 Horned Owl. He had found it sitting on two eggs in a slight depression 

 in the hay in a barn loft. There had been no apparent effort to arrange 

 the hay in any way, and there were no sticks nor any sort of building 

 material from the outside. I can find no record of a similar nesting of 

 this species. — Prewitt Roberts, Conway, Missouri. 



