Vol. XXIV 



1907 ] Swales & Taverner, Birds of Southeastern Michigan. 143 



the Ohio shore during the height of the flight and does not mention 

 them in his report of his trip (Wils. Bull., Dee., 1906). 



Nyctea nyctea. Snowy Owl. — We have also had a flight of 

 Snowy Owls this fall and early winter, that has not been so remark- 

 able for the number of individuals as for the peculiarities of the 

 individuals composing it. Hitherto the general run of Snowy 

 Owls taken here have been of the usual heavily marked form. 

 This fall, however, the males have all been of a remarkable white- 

 ness. The first one of the season was received from Point Pelee, 

 November 1, and must have been taken a few days previous. This 

 is a male and nearly white. What darker markings there are, 

 are very light in color and are sparsely sprinkled over the wings 

 and lower breast. We received another, a female of the usual 

 dark coloration, from the Point November 7. Since then five 

 have been examined in the shops, two coming from Port Huron, 

 both white, and one from Grosse Isle in the lower Detroit River, 

 which is almost immaculate. The other two were females and 

 were dark. All males have been light and all females dark. It 

 seems that this flight must have originated in a different geographi- 

 cal quarter than previous ones. It is known that in the northwest- 

 ern Provinces of Canada this light bird is the usual form, and it 

 is most likely that these birds came from somewhere in that direc- 

 tion, while our usual visitors originate some distance further east. 

 The occurrence of the dark females indicates nothing to the con- 

 trary, as the female of the white male is invariably of the dark 

 tvpe. From what data we can gather it does not seem that this 

 whiteness is the result of full maturity, otherwise it might be inferred 

 that this is an irruption of adults somewhat resembling the flight 

 of Goshawks described above. That there is something more 

 than ordinary in the occurrence of these birds this fall is evident 

 on studying their peculiar distribution over Michigan and Ontario. 

 A map showing the occurrence of the Goshawk this fall would do 

 equally well for the Snowy Owl. White birds have been common 

 at Toronto, as we are informed by Mr. Fleming; none of any kind 

 have been noted at London by Mr. Saunders, and there are no 

 reports from the interior of the State. The only way we can account 

 for this strange state of affairs is that these two species have fol- 

 lowed some such route as Taverner mapped out (Bull. Mich. 



