22 THE AUDUBON BULLETIN 



1918 Invasion of Central Illinois by the Snowy Owl 



When very young, I was always fascinated by a fine specimen of 

 a Snowy Owl which sat perched on a bookcase in one of the Quincy law 

 offices. 



The naturalist who' mounted it kindly answered my many questions 

 about it and one 'thought maintained itself in my mind. He said that 

 every fifteen or twenty years this bird deserted its Arctic haunts and 

 came South. He stimulated my interest by saying that no doubt I 

 should see the bird a number of times if I were to keep up my interest 

 in ornithology. 



Several years after this inquiry, in the year 1905, one of my friends 

 who was duck hunting reported to me that he had seen two of these 

 Snowy Owls. Others were reported that season. However, not until 

 this 1918 season have I come in direct contact with this Arctic visitor. 



Imagine my surprise one day in December at seeing a young street 

 urchin, with his face apparently glued to the outside of a store window, 

 fall back as if hurt. As I approached, I found a live Snowy Owl within. 

 It was on a perch and as the lad had been teasing it, it made a counter- 

 attack and dashed at the boy who was only saved injury by the pres- 

 ence of the window glass. The ferocity of the captive quickly indicated 

 why the lad had retreated. Upon inquiry, I found that the Owl had 

 been wounded by a farmer over in Missouri, who brought it over to 

 Quincy for inspection. 



The appearance of this one owl made me feel certain that others 

 were or would be here. No doubt the terrifically cold winter en- 

 couraged the general flight to our warmer clime. In January, I read 

 of a farmer north of town who had shot a huge white owl. The 

 wounded bird looked so innocent that the man reached carelessly to 

 lift it. Like a steel trap, the bird seized his wrist and sank its sharp 

 talons into the flesh being stopped by the wrist bone. A companion killed 

 the bird before its grip could be released. 



My next acquaintance with the owl lay in the receipt of several 

 pictures which illustrate this article. They were taken by Professor 

 Frank Smith and Mr. Walter Goelitz o>f the University of Illinois. 

 I shall not go into any great detail concerning this capture as I hope 

 Professor Smith will issue a university pamphlet giving minute detail 

 of his valuable experiences with this bird. 



Professor Smith reports that in 1905 (which is the same year these 

 owls were seen and killed by hunters in Quincy) that the bird was 

 recorded as follows in Champaign, Urbana and vicinity: Nov. 18, 1905, 

 one male, four miles S. W. Champaign; Nov. 23, 1905, one female near 

 Danville; Dec. 1, 1905, one female on East Oregon St., Urbana; Dec. 

 1905, near St. Joseph, Michigan, one male was reported. 



Since that time until 1918 no specimen has been recorded, I believe, 

 in or along the 40th degree in Illinois.' 



In the March edition of Guide to Nature, a magazine published in 

 Sound Beach, Connecticut, is an article from an eastern source in which 

 an observer records seeing crows chasing "a huge white hawk or owl." 



