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II 
Just at present I am wondering what some of the Horned 
Owls are that I have skinned from around here. They vary all the 
way from a pure white Arctic Horned,with gray markings,to the 
blackest kind of a Dusky Horned. One that puzzles me most is a 
yellowish bird with brown markings. Do you think it would be at 
all likely that the common Horned Owl would occur here,or would 
it be more likely to be a cross of some kind ? 
I got a Sharp-shinned Hawk, fully mature in plumage, 
the other day that is also a puzzle to me. It is intermediate in 
size between my other males and females,but the curious part is 
that there were absolutely no signs of any sexual organs. The 
bird was shot in the head and neck, the body being uninjured, so 
that I had a clear field for examination. It ia the only case 
of the kind that I have ever seen. 
There has been an immense flight of Snowy Owls this 
winter, the largest that I hare ever seen. Some of the books give 
the length up to 2? inches,which I think must be very excep¬ 
tional to eay the least. I have examined over twenty lately and. 
the largest measured only a. trifle over 23,75 incites. This was 
an immense bird,weighing six pounds and having a wing spread of 
62.00, It was a very dark female. Incidentally,the males were 
the first to arrive, but at least seven out of ten that I have i 
examined were females. This last holds good with the Horned 
Owls that I have examined from around here, the percentage of 
females being perhaps even larger in this last named species. 
