BIRDS OF MARSHALL COUNTY 151 



70. Pandio)i haliaetus carolinensis. Osprey. The Osprey 

 was a rare migrant tlirougli ^Marshall county. The only spring 

 record is of one seen April 29, 1914. It is rather more common 

 in the fall and the writer has four records as follows : Septem- 

 ber 19, 1913, two were noted along Iowa river and one was taken 

 (Auk, Vol. XXXI, p. 255, April, 1914). Another was seen Sep- 

 tember 26, 1913, and single birds were noted September 5 and 

 18, 1914. 



71. As^io wilsonianus. Long-eared Owl. An uncommon breed- 

 ing species. On April 3, 1913, four of these birds were found 

 roosting in a small hawthorhe tree overgrown by grape vines. 

 About 226 pellets were collected under this tree. These have 

 been examined by the Biological Survey and tae following mam- 

 mals and birds have been identified from them : 



4 Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodAa) ; 

 1 Robin (Planesticus migratorius) ; 



1 Least Shrew (Cryptotis p^arva) ; 



5 Short tailed Shrews (Blarina hrevicauda) ; 

 3 House Mice (Mus musculus) ; 



89 White footed Mice (Pcromyscus e. vovehoracensis) ; 



70 Meadow Mice (Microtus pennsijlvanicus) ; 



18 Mead&w Mice (Microtus ochrog aster). 



On Ma,j 10, 1913, a nest of this species containing four eggs 

 was found near the roost tree. The nest was about twenty feet 

 from the ground in a vine covered tree. It was visited on May 

 12, 17, 24, 30, 31 and June 7, for the purpose of photographing 

 the young. The parent birds invariably went through the same 

 performance while the writer was about. The one on the nest 

 remained until I actually started to climh the tree. Then it 

 would swoop down at me. swerve to one side and land on a 

 branch about thirty feet from the nest. This bird then com- 

 menced to make a curious moaning sound, roll its eyes and snap 

 the mandibles together. About this time the other pirent would 

 appear on the scene and a duet of these sounds, interspersed 

 with two other notes w'hich might be described as a hoarsely 

 uttered "wah-wah-wah— " and "wuk, wuk, wuk." followed. 

 The feathers were ruffled, the wings partly spread and occas- 

 ionally they made short flights from one tree to another while 

 this concert was going on. On May 17 one younsr one and two 

 eggs were found — the fourth egv haviri? disappeared. A meadow 



