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doesn’t seem so much larger, but when seen standing on an ice-floe it is 
easily distinguished, being two to four inches longer than the herring gull. 
Now it is December 30, and leaving Chicago for Dixon one would wonder 
what could be seen to make a trip so far from home worth while. There was 
no snow in the city and the roads were in A-1 shape. When about halfway 
there it began to snow, and then increased until it looked as though we 
might be running into a blizzard. For. once in my life I was tempted to 
suggest turning back, but kept still, leaving it to Mr. Bartel as he had the 
driving of the car. By the time Lowell Park was reached there was some 
five or six inches of snow. At the entrance of the Park three large owls 
were flushed and an intensive search was made by the three of us to see 
them better and identify them. They were very wary and it was some time 
before we located them, a pair of great horned owls, sitting side by side and 
looking down at us. In the top branches of a tall pine tree were the female, 
a large gray-brown bird, and the male, smaller, a rich golden-brown and 
much more colorful. Their heads were tilted toward first one of us and 
then the others as we moved about under them, trying to see them to the 
best advantage with our 8x30’s. Driving through Lowell Park for the first 
time in winter, it looked like a fairyland under its mantle of snow. I 
remembered so well a stand of Canadian hemlock as they were in summer, 
but it was hard to say in what season of the year they were most lovely. 
The pure white snow falling on the branches made them look as though 
they were made of exquisite lace. All that remained of green were the moss 
and lichens on the rocks that were covered with snow. The call of the red- 
bellied woodpecker was heard, and then he was seen; also chickadee, tufted 
titmouse, blue jay and crow. 
It was hard to leave Lowell Park, but White Pine State Park was on 
our schedule, so we got under way. In a field we saw a flock of horned 
larks searching for food on top of the snow. As we came to a corner of the 
park we were thrilled to see a mixed flock of birds feeding on weed seeds, 
and among them identified purple finches, goldfinches, juncos, cardinals, 
cedar waxwing's, chickadees, tufted tits and blue jays; later we found crows, 
red-shouldered and red-tailed hawks. A tramp among those virgin pines 
was delightful. We saw crows chase a large owl or hawk. We saw one crow 
plummet straight down through a tree to strike at a bird sitting on a 
branch below. The poor rabbits had a busy time keeping out of the way of 
a medium sized brown dog that followed us around. One rabbit came down 
a path so fast with the dog close behind that he leaped through the loop 
made by Karl’s arm as he held his hand in his pocket. I could not say who 
was most surprised, man, rabbit or dog, it all happened so fast. 
After this we again got into the car and drove through the river at 
four different places where shallow fords had been built below the water 
line. The water over these was not frozen, so we were able to cross them 
safely, but it is a rather thrilling thing to do at any time. We climbed the 
stairway to the west bluff and while exploring these woods found three 
robins, a number of juncos, white-breasted nuthatch and a downy wood- 
pecker. It was drawing toward the close of a perfect day and our journey 
home when we heard what sounded like an owl hooting on a bluff on the 
