136 



THE 00L0QI8T 



descend to take part as I had expect- 

 ed. Their northward journey was re- 

 sumed and the owls were apparent- 

 ly forgotten. 



Our fourth visit was delayed on ac- 

 count of the muddy roads and bad 

 weather until March 25th. My, these 

 young owls had grown. Their bodies 

 were covered with downy feathers, 

 a little lighter in color than the par- 

 ent birds. The wings and tail edges 

 were edged with good sized pin- 

 feathers. The old owl slid away be- 

 fore we got to the tree and, because 

 the young could take care of them- 

 selves, was seen no more that day. 



March 31st marked our fifth trip. 

 At this time the young owls were 

 nearly as large as the old ones. The 

 bottom of the nest cavity was cov- 

 ered with the ejected pellets cast up 

 by the owls; the w^hole thing becom- 

 ing a very "smelly affair." Old birds 

 not seen. A portion of a rabbit was 

 in the cavity, also feathers that indi- 

 cated a flicker had been killed. 



Our last trip was made on April 

 7th. Only one young owl left in the 

 nest at this time; others may have 

 flown. Three freshly cleaned skulls 

 of rabbits in nest. We did not go 

 again for the trip was not a short 

 one and there were other nests to 

 watch. 



This is the history of these young 

 owls' beginning in this world. This 

 Ftudy of the nesting of these birds 

 reveals the fact that, in this instance 

 at least, though there was a chicken 

 ♦arm within a half mile from the 

 nesting site, poultry formed not a 

 single part of the food fed to the 

 > oung. As far as I was able to find 

 out and discover, with the exceptions 

 of the bobwhite and the flicker al- 

 lea.ly spoken of, the food of the great 

 horned owl consists wholly of cotton- 

 tail rabbits. 



Ralph J. Donahue, 

 Bonner Springs, Kansas. 



TRAPPING THE FEATHERED 



MARAUDERS OF THE FIELDS 



Farmers whose crops have suffer- 

 ed unusually from the depredations 

 of the crow might take courage hy 

 the reports of the methods pursued 

 in the agricultural regions of France 

 to get rid of this well-nigh universal 

 pest. Every farmer knows that the 

 favorite delight of the crow is to tear 

 up and devour the sprouting corn, 

 and that the crow is not particular- 

 ly an easy bird to shoot, being gun 

 shy and seeming to know by soime 

 peculiar power of observation or in- 

 tuition when a man is armed. 



How the French meet the situa- 

 tion in a variety of ways, chief of 

 which are decoys and traps, is told in 

 the Illustrated World by George E. 

 Liscomb. 



"The first method," says Liscomb, 

 "consists in making use of the crow's 

 nocturnal foe, the owl. The owl is 

 particularly hated by the crow and 

 when the hapless creature has lost 

 its way and is partly blinded by the 

 light of day, it flies helplessly about 

 and is pretty certain to be set upon 

 by a flock of angry crows. 



"Taking advantage of this natural 

 hatred, the French peasant builds an 

 ambush in the fields and on a perch 

 near by ties either a live owl or a 

 stuffed one. If the stuffed variety 

 is used, the farmer, concealed in am- 

 bush, simulates life in the decoy by 

 jerking a cord attached to its limbs. 

 When the black host arrive to worry 

 their hereditary foe a liberal broad- 

 .^ide from a double-barreled gun will 

 rid the country of quite a number. 



"Those farmers who prefer traps 

 to shotguns make use of paper cones. 

 These are first lined on the inside 

 with birdlime. This may be produced 

 by boiling the bark of the holly, 

 from which is thereby obtained a 

 sticky detaining substance. In lieu 



