250 NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. 
can see, and therefore is it desirable to jeopardize one’s reputation 
by giving them publicity ? 
The past winter has been unusually cold, and the effect on the 
ornithic fauna perceptible. The great white owl (Nyctea nivea) 
has been quite abundant, seven having been killed near Trenton 
and sent to one taxidermist. The snow bunting (Plectrophanes 
nivalis) has been more abundant with us than ever before ; and so 
with other northern species that in winter visit us in varying num- 
bers.—Cuas. C. Assort, M. D., Trenton, N. J., March 9, 1871. 
[As Mr. Stearns has stated that he was mistaken in the identi- 
fication of his bird (see p. 253), and thus thrown doubt on the sup- 
posed variation in habits of the Pigeon Hawk, we trust Dr. Abbott 
will settle the identity of his birds beyond question should they 
occupy the hole in the tree again. — Eps. ] 
SPIKE Hornep DEER. — As the impression seems still to exist 
in the minds of some persons, that the spike horn deer is a dis- 
tinct variety, I must ask for a little more space in your pages 
to give a few more facts in relation to them, and I have done. 
In the first place, I have found, in my study of natural history, 
that the statements of hunters, both professional and amateur, 
must be taken with allowance, not so much from their desire to 
misrepresent, as to their want of knowledge of natural history, 
anatomy, and the habit of trained observation. They jump at con- 
clusions which upon careful investigation prove to have no founda- 
tion 
one e years ago, when I was inveotiggting the question of the 
Pronghorn Antelope shedding its horns, I wrote to a gentleman, a 
great sportsman, connected with the army, and who had been sta- 
tioned for many years on the Plains, for any facts that he could . 
give me in relation to it. He wrote back, that he had hunted the 
antelope at all seasons of the year, for twelve years, and he knew 
that they did not shed their horns. Before the letter reached me I 
saw an antelope, that had been kept in confinement, shed its horns. 
en I was on the Plains, the hunters told me that there were 
two kinds of bison,* one on the Plains and one which they called 
the wood buffalo, which was never found in herds, but singly ; 
* See reference bed = = p. = of ae Number. ae sages ta given on that page 
ut by mistake a reference 
is given to another page. — EDS. 
