368 Allen, New England Horned Owls. [j^Iy 



ochraceous color, though in this respect it is nearly matched by a 

 bird from Newfoundland. 



In 1897, Mr. Arthur H. Norton (Proc. Portland Soc. Nat. 

 Hist., Vol. 2, p. 103) recorded as a bird new to the Maine list, a 

 very dark-faced Horned Owl in the collection of the Portland 

 Society of Natural History, that was killed many years previously 

 and given the Society in March, 1870. It was taken near Port- 

 land, Maine. Mr. Norton referred it to the race saturatus as 

 then understood (now restricted to the dark form of British 

 Columbia), and described it as "very dark brown, or blackish 

 brown" above with fine grayish marks; "very wide dusky bars 

 below, having a tendency to mass on the breast; feet and bases 

 of the feathers below deep tawny (much deeper than in any speci- 

 men of virginianus examined)"; wing 400 mm.; tarsus with num- 

 erous dusky bars. No doubt this, too, is an example of the sub- 

 species heterocnemis and came from the north. 



Later, Knight (in his 'Birds of Maine,' 1908, p. 260-261) dis- 

 missed this record with the remark that Mr. Norton's specimen is 

 " not much darker in coloration than many individuals seen else- 

 where: It is indeed possible that all our Maine birds are nearer 

 the northern form and may be better regarded as all being referable 

 to it." This is hardly the case, however, as the birds I have seen 

 from southern and eastern Maine, taken in the breeding season, 

 are clearly typical virginianus and agree with Massachusetts 

 specimens in their clear russet facial disks and lighter coloration. 



A second Great Horned Owl of the 1917-18 flight was a very 

 pallid female bird killed at the Mount Auburn Cemetery, Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., by one of the employees of the cemetery, on Decem- 

 ber 4, 1917. It was brought to the M. A. Frazar Company's 

 taxidermist establishment and I saw the bird in the flesh shortly 

 after. Through Mr. Frazar's interest the bird was obtained 

 for the Boston Society of Natural History. During the past 

 winter, 1918-19, there has again been a considerable flight of Great 

 Horned Owls. Mr. Frazar says that over twenty had been received 

 at his shop before January 1, 1919, where in ordinary years 

 scarcely half a dozen come in, during an equal period. Among 

 the birds of this year's flight was another pale individual which 

 has also been secured by the Boston Society of Natural History. 



