i90fP n ] Deane, Unusual Abundance of Snowy Owls. 283 



UNUSUAL ABUNDANCE OF THE SNOWY OWL 

 (NYC TEA NYC TEA). 



BY RUTHVEN DEANE. 



During the past winter of 1905-6, we have again been visited 

 with an unusual abundance of Snowy Owls. I called attention to 

 this flight in a short note published in 'The Auk' for January, 

 1906 (p. 100), but at that time I had been unable to obtain suffi- 

 cient data on the subject. During December, January, and 

 February I received records of some eight hundred specimens from 

 localities scattered from Nova Scotia west to Nebraska and from 

 Manitoba south to Missouri, showing that in this territory, at least, 

 the flight had been quite general. As to the cause of these period- 

 ical incursions we have not much more information to enlighten us 

 than we had during their abundance in the winters of 1901-2. 1 The 

 weather during these visits has not been unusually severe and the 

 temperature of the past season was one of marked mildness and con- 

 siderably above the normal point in most localities. There seems to 

 be little doubt that a scarcity of food must influence these southward 

 movements. In some favorable localities, where in former years 

 these owls were conspicuously represented, this past season but few, 

 if any, have occurred. I have had to rely largely for my informa- 

 tion upon the taxidermists who have received them for preserva- 

 tion, and to them I take this occasion to express my obligations, as 

 well as to all others, for their kind assistance. 



Nova Scotia. 



Mr. J. W. Bouteillier, Marconi Wireless Station, Sable Island, 

 Nova Scotia, writes under date of April 6, 1906, as follows: "For 

 the last three winters we have noticed Snowy Owls here in greater 

 abundance than ever before. In the winter of 1902-3 there were 



1 "The Auk," Vol. XIX, July, 1902, pp. 271-283. 



