I02 Bird -Lore 



same stand in the broken maple. I well remember with what acute interest we 

 ranged ourselves about the tree for a good view of our friends, if by chance they 

 might be at home. True enough, at the first knock, out the old lady came, with 

 little, if any, hurry, just as if only a week had passed since we last saw her, while 

 really a }ear had gone by since we had shooed her away from her crop of owlets. 

 This year, the third since we had found the Owl family, two eggs were laid and 

 two Owls were successfully raised. 



The fourth year, back we went to the same spot, but the Owls had not re- 

 turned; nor, much to my regret, have they done so since that time. 



The question might be asked, why do we speak of these Owls as if they 

 were one family, returning year after year? In reply, it must be admitted that 

 this fact can not be proven, though it seems reasonable to suppose that it was 

 the same family. On the other hand, it can not be disproven. Doubtless, most 

 observers have known particular spots where, in the proper season, the hoo! hoo! 

 of the Barred Owl is heard year after year; and, even if the nesting-site is not 

 known, the locality is looked upon as the home of a single pair of birds. 



Our own Owl family has either moved away or else has fallen victim to 

 the many people always willing to "try a shot," as they say, at almost any bird, 

 but, particularly, at one as large as a Barred Owl. The old maple, which had 

 stood so many years, and, apparently, had furnished shelter to many birds and 

 animals long before I found it, is now gone; succumbing, as many another home 

 tree has done, to the so-called improvements, commended by so many and, 

 unfortunately, regretted by only a few. 



IMMATURE NIGHT HERON 

 Flashlight by Henry R. Carey, Portsmouth, N. H. 



