V ° l i90? IV ] General Notes. 217 



"As it began to grow dark, I saw something every now and then mov- 

 ing among the trees opposite the entrance to the driveway, and when I 

 crept up I could hear the owls snapping their bills, and spitting like a cat, 

 and snarling. It was lucky I had on the mask, for while I was standing 

 there, straining my eyes and ears, something suddenly swooped down 

 without warning and gave me a hard blow on the side of the head, on the 

 edge of the mask, at the same time uttering a scream of rage. A cousin 

 of Mrs. Hoar's, who also had on a mask, was struck squarely in the face, 

 and at the same moment we heard the scream of rage again. Apparently 

 the hardness of the masks and our not being intimidated made the birds 

 desist, for they did not attack us again, although we saw them fly from 

 tree to tree, and clamber, parrot-like, up an inclined branch, and swing 

 on a hanging one." 



Mrs. Worcester adds that a pair of Screech Owls which bred "for a 

 good many years" in a tree standing near a house in Arlington, Massachu- 

 setts, developed, in 1902, a habit "of attacking the people who went in 

 and out of the yard, and even those who passed on the sidewalk." — 

 William Brewster, Cambridge, Mass. 



The Snowy Owl (Nyctea nyctea) not generally Abundant in the Win- 

 ter of 1906-1907. — I think there has been no record showing an unusual 

 abundance of this species for two consecutive years, and our experience 

 shows that there is a lapse of from five to ten years between these notice- 

 able invasions. In the winter of 1905-1906 we had an unusual abundance 

 scattered over the country, but the present season has been devoid of 

 any remarkable flight south into the United States, though in Manitoba 

 they are reported as abundant as last year. In many sections of the 

 Provinces, New England, and the Middle West, my correspondents who 

 received numbers last winter, have had but few this season, and in some 

 instances none. 



The following eleven specimens received by Angell and Cash, taxider- 

 mists, Providence, R. I., will be of interest as they record complete data. 

 They were received between November 3, 1906, and February 12, 1907. 

 Nov. 3, d\ Newport, R. I. 



" 5, c?, Hope Island, Narragansett Bay, R. I. 1 



" 12, 9 , Fisher's Island, N. Y. 



" 15, 9 , Monomoy Island, Mass. 



" 15, 9 , New London, Conn. 2 



" 19, cT, Monomoy Island, Mass. 



" 21, d\ Block Island, R. I. 



" 28, c?, Seaconnet Point, R. I. 



" 28, $ , New London, Conn. 3 



" 30, d\ Norwich, Conn. 

 Feb. 12, 9 , Fisher's Island, N. Y. 



Contents of stomach, a gray rat, head digested, otherwise whole. 



2 Contents of stomach, rat fur and bone pellets. 



3 Contents of stomach, dark flesh and feathers of Black Duck. 



