MIKDS IN THE MUSI I 



69 



head tufts. They nest on the ground. 

 Notice their black breast patch. 



The eggs of the Baltimore oriole arc 

 marked like the red-winged black- 

 bird's, but usually more finely.. The 

 ground color is white or whitish. 



Woodpeckers' eggs are glossy white, 

 differing chiefly in size, according to 

 the size of the bird. — E. |. Sawyer. 



Those Reddish Brown Birds. 

 This spring we saw some birds 

 which we were unable to identify, and 

 we would be very grateful if you could 

 tell us what they were. 



They were feeding on the edge of 

 a park among shrubs and evergreens 

 and were quite timid. They kept about 

 twenty-five feet from us so that we 

 were unable to distinguish the mark- 

 ings, but the general coloring was a 

 bright reddish brown, and the birds 

 were about the size of an English 

 sparrow. There must have been ten 

 or twelve in the flock. — Miss Mildred 

 Avery, Watertown, New York. 



Your birds were doubtless fox spar- 

 rows. The time of year, the place, and 

 "general coloring" point to these birds 

 and to no others. We see the fox 

 sparrows only in spring and fall while 

 they are migrating northward and 

 southward respectively, for they nest 

 to the north and winter to the south 

 of us. This bird gives the impression 

 of a large, strongly marked, dark, red- 

 dish, song sparrow (see cut). He is 

 a finer singer than the song sparrow. 

 In fact, I know of no sparrow music 



<^<»wy«H. 



A FOX SPARROW. 



which equals his. His habit of vigor- 

 ously scratching among the dead 

 leaves and twigs should help find and 

 identify him. — E. J. Sawyer. 



Owl Surgery. 



An Experience with a Florida Barred 



Owl 



BY R. A. SELL, HOUSTON, TEXAS. 



A light drizzling rain added to the 

 darkness of the night. The interlock- 

 ing 1 switch tower was lonesome, but 



THE FLORIDA BARRED OWL THAT FLEW 



THROUGH THE WINDOW OF A 



SWITCH TOWER. 



the operator was busy as usual. The 

 10:40 express had just passed and re- 

 ports must be made out. Crash ! Fall- 

 ing breaking glass! A flutter. The 

 man at the desk saw an owl fluttering 

 around on the floor. A Florida barred 

 owl had flown through the window. 

 No reason for his strange action could 

 be found but in breaking the window 

 he had also broken a wing and a leg. 

 The next morning he was brought to 

 the biological laboratory in a sorry 

 plight for one of the broken wing 

 bones protruded through the skin. Then 

 it was decided to try surgery. Splints 

 were constructed for the wing, the 

 bone carefully set, the splints, includ- 

 ing two pieces of turkey feathers, put 

 in place and wrapped with a thick 

 layer of darning cotton. 



The leg was broken near the joint 

 so that it seemed to make the splints 

 impractical. The possibility of using 

 metal splints bent to fit the place and 

 carefully wrapped was discussed but 

 finally abandoned. It was determined 

 to try a plaster paris cast, but when 

 it came to setting the leg and keeping 

 it in place until the plaster paris hard- 

 ened it was found that the muscles 

 contracted sufficiently to let the bone 

 slip out of place. In this way two 

 casts failed. Then the feathers were 

 clipped from the leg and the owl placed 

 under the influence of chloroform. 

 This proved a success and by noon 

 the operation was completed. 



