THE PLAINS AND COLORADO 109 



groves not distant from the town in the early 

 part of December. I visited several of these 

 groves, and cite from my notes as follows: — 



"Until last fall I had never met with the saw-whet owl 

 {Nyctala acadica) at this point, and was surprised at having 

 one brought me on December i. This bird was taken from 

 a hole in a tree alive. Just after a severe storm, in the early 

 part of December, I was told of some small owls being quite 

 common in a certain cedar grove. In this and in an adjacent 

 grove on December 10, I obtained ten saw-whet owls, and the 

 following day seven more. Since that time until writing I have 

 found these birds more or less common in cedar groves, and 

 have obtained many more specimens. During the day they 

 roost in cedars close to the trunk, and can frequently be taken 

 alive in the hand. They seem to affect scattered groves, where 

 the trees do not grow too thickly. Most of the birds taken are 

 females, and judging from their ovaries, the time of breeding 

 cannot be more than six weeks or two months distant." 



I speak particularly of this occurrence as I 

 have never noticed the birds in subsequent years, 

 except casually and singly. There was also a 

 very remarkable migration of red-tailed and red- 

 shouldered hawks, as well as numbers of rough- 

 legged buzzards. On some of the meadows along 

 the Millstone River during this winter almost 

 every isolated tree was the haunt of one of these 

 large hawks, and it was not unusual to see two 

 or three of them in the same tree. I remember 

 once collecting five individuals within close 

 gunshot of one another. I did not pick up any 



