340 General Notes. [f^^ 



of the winter, for the thermometer several times touched zero, it seems 

 strange that these birds should have stayed north, especially as everything 

 was frozen up and the flats and feeding groimds were covered with ice. 

 How they managed to find any sustenance, to say nothing of their being 

 fat, seems a mystery. That same week I was on Martha's Vineyard Island 

 where I found a male Chewink wintering, which I reported in 'The Auk,' 

 Volume XXVII, p. 220. — S. Prescott Fay, Boston, Mass. 



Breeding of the Long-eared Owl in Philadelphia County, Pa. — It appears 

 almost incredible that any of our larger hawks and owls can exist in such 

 a densely populated locality as Philadelphia, yet, to our surprise and 

 wonder, they somehow manage to subsist, despite the ruthless warfare 

 waged against them by ignorant gunners and farmers, who kill them upon 

 every occasion. In view of these facts it is a mystery to me why our 

 larger Raptores have not long ago been extirpated as breeders in this 

 vicinity, but such seems not to have as yet happened, as their occasional 

 discovery nesting indicates. 



The Long-eared Owl [Asio wilsonianus) is one of these much maligned 

 species. It now is of decidedly scarce occurrence even as a winter visitant 

 and is a rare breeder. It is so rare in Philadelphia that I have not seen 

 any since December, 1902, and have only several other subsequent records 

 of them from near the city. 



Although I have never actually found a nest in Philadelphia I have seen 

 the young, which establishes a record of its breeding. On June 9, 1898, 

 in a big, thick wood at Frankford, I discovered four fledgling Long- 

 eared Owls huddled together about thirty feet up in a scrubby scarlet oak. 

 When disturbed they flew weakly about in a bewildered manner in all 

 directions, and their discovery by the inhabitants of the wood had made 

 them almost distracted. They were evidently raised in one of the many 

 Crow's nests in the wood. A pair of Long-eared Owls was seen in this 

 wood on March 14, 1902, but subsequent search for them and their nest 

 was fruitless, and I have no doubt that the birds were shot. — Richard 

 F. Miller, Harrowgate, Philadelphia, Pa. 



Northwestern Saw-whet and Snowy Owis in Oregon. — On Nov. 30, 



1909, a hunter shot a fine adult female Snowy Owl {Nyctea nyctea) at 

 Sheridan, Dougal Co., Oregon. It was perched on a large stump beside 

 the trail in heavy forest. Mr. Frank Baker, a Portland, Oregon, taxider- 

 mist, has three Northwestern Saw-whet Owls {Cryptoglaux ucadica scotwa) 

 collected in Douglas County during the summer of 1899. Both these 

 Owls are rare in this part of the State. — Stanley G. Jewett, Portland, 

 Oregon. 



A Hybrid Flicker in Eastern Missouri. — On Feb. 6, 1910, on the bank 

 of the Meramec River, ten miles southwest of St. Louis, I found dead a 

 Flicker, a hybrid of the Northern {Colaptes aziratns httens) and Red-shafted 



