18 T HE? AU DU BYOIN® BiU OU DAbsiae 
Bufflehead, 1; Hooded Merganser, 6; Red-tailed Hawk, 15; Rough-legged 
Hawk, 3; Sparrow Hawk, 1; Ring-necked Pheasant, 5; American Coot, 59; 
Common Snipe, 2; Herring Gull, 1; Ring-billed Gull, 1; Mourning Dove, 3; 
Snowy Owl, 1; Long-eared Owl, 1; Yellow-shafted Flicker, 18; red-bellied 
Woodpecker, 2; Hairy Woodpecker, 14; Downy Woodpecker, 18; Blue Jay, 
11; Common Crow, 8; Black-capped Chickadee, 27; White-breasted Nut- 
hatch, 14; Brown Creeper, 12; Robin, 1; Golden-crowned Kinglet, 8; Star- 
ling, 47; Myrtle Warbler, 4; House Sparrow, 87; Meadowlark, 1; Rusty 
Blackbird, 1; Cardinal, 11; Purple Finch, 2; Common Redpoll, 2; Pine 
Siskin, 35; American Goldfinch, 1; Red Crossbill, 2; Slate-colored Junco, 40; 
Tree Sparrow, 20; Fox Sparrow, 1; Song Sparrow, 4. Total: 47 species, 
2,761 individuals. Seen Dec. 26 but not on count day: Redhead, Ruddy Duck, 
Common Merganser, Marsh Hawk, Barn Owl, Pine Warbler. — Observers: 
Earl Anderson, Bertha Bannert, Karl Bartel, John Beckman, Margaret 
Lehmann, Clarence Palmquist (Compiler), Paul Schulze, Roy Smith, 
Charles Westcott, Helen Wilson. 
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SNOWY OWL IN HILLSIDE, ILL. 
By ISABEL B. WASSON 
On SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 27, Robert Bute of 318 North Forest Ave., Hillside, 
discovered a big white owl sitting on a ridgepole of a house near his home. 
At first he thought it was a decoration, but then watched it slowly turn its 
head. Monday the bird had moved to the grounds of the Alcoa Co. Plant 
across from his home. He told Mrs. Marguerite Shawvan about it the next 
day. On Tuesday afternoon Mrs. Isabel Wasson drove over and with Mrs. 
Bute watched the owl for an hour in the snow storm. He sat quietly on the 
prairie within fifteen feet of the road, watching flocks of pigeons fly over- 
head from Hillside quarry but paying no attention to passing cars and 
children, who did not see him. 
The owl was a large, handsome male with full white head and breast 
and black-edged feathers on top. Mrs. Bute said that he sat near the road 
from noon until 4:00 p.m. On following days several individuals and groups 
tried to find him without success. The occurrence was similar to that in 
1955 when a Snowy Owl spent several weeks on a prairie near the Electro- 
motive Plant a little farther south. 
606 Thatcher Avenue, River Forest, Ill. 
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WHAT’S HAPPENING TO THE BLUEBIRDS? 
By JACK KEEGAN 
AFTER HEARING OF the losses suffered by Eastern Bluebirds in 1958, I 
built and set out 100 Bluebird houses in the spring of 1959. That year ap- 
proximately 25% of the houses were occupied and I banded 135, most of 
them immatures. In 1960, with the same number of houses in the same area, 
I banded only 386! What a come-down! Does anyone know what’s happening 
to our Bluebirds? 
FI a ft 
