June 1888.] 



AXD OOLOGIST. 



S5 



poorly sci'poniiij; a sinj^k' vigorous I^opperiilgc, 

 stiuiiliiig ill the iniildlc of the opoii ji'lade. Here 

 Master Jhilfi) had liiiilt a hufjo lilack nest, 

 loomliin; ii|) ill its isolation as big ami coiispie- 

 uous as the Osprey'-s castle. A hurcalis hail 

 well toward eoiiipletioii a wholly new nest for 

 her seeond clnlih in a clir-ilniil croli-h, from 

 which we had loin down :in old nest of lier's 

 two weeks before. Tlie liisl cliilcli oi this 

 Redtail was peculiar. One egg was just half 

 the size of its normal fellow, hut otlierwi.se was 

 its fac simile in design and color, which was a 

 decided green. 'I'hougli incubation Iiad begun, 

 the roughness of this set to the toindi was not 

 par.-illeleil in tlie whole 'SS series. Another nest 

 of liucdttis, feathered, as yet held no eggs, hut 

 the tree itself for many seasmis lias been chosen 

 for the second nest of a ei'rlain /littev. For 

 first choice, the limit is nearly as strict. Why 

 is it, however closelj' they are liariied, the big 

 Buzzards always choose tlie same trees? If the 

 nest is torn down, next year or a few seasons 

 later it is sure to be rebuilt. Clearly the bulk 

 of the trees are only trees to them, but some 

 three or four forks or crotches are houses and 

 tit tenements for their honsekeeping. Take any 

 piece of woods witli which I am aeiiuainted, 

 and nest or no nest, I can show you the only 

 halt dozen irees which Uiiteos will ever deign to 

 live in. 



<Jii our way home \\ e cnlered a swamp of 

 small chestnuts and maples, where there were 

 large nests in good order, each of which, 

 through the field-glass, showed a single feather, 

 and one trunk was spurred with peculiar 

 •'climbers," which 1 at once recognized. See- 

 ing no hawk we did not climb, reading the 

 hieroglyiihics this way : A certain young col- 

 lector has taken a short set of Coopers from nest 

 No. 1, and Mrs. Aecipiter has not quite made 

 up her miud whether to move into nest No. 2 

 or No. 3. We lost this set, but will let the 

 reader judge wliether honors are not easy 

 against the young collector. 



The account of our second trip afield after 

 hawks will conclude with this incident, for the 

 personalit}' of which we beg pardon in ad- 

 vance. It was at Hoggy Meadow Keservoir, 

 April 27, I found a l!ed-sliouldeied Hawk cov- 

 ering two eggs, which I left for a full clutch. 

 On May Day I took her set of three, (licking 

 one perfect egg from the ground. Now, this 

 was one of the very eggs 1 noted in the nest 

 four days before. How did it come in its 

 queer position':' Could it havi; been carried 

 there by talons or clawsV On what exact 

 part of its pei-iphery must an egg strike to 



remain unbroken after a fall of sixty-five feet? 



The young collector referred to had told me 

 he was going to take a run up to the IJeservoir, 

 so keeping iiuiet about my find, I set the follow- 

 ing trap for him. I am niiich lighter than he, 

 and on both occasions managed to scramble up 

 a tall slim birch and to swing into the lowest 

 crotch of the big chestnut tree, thus making 

 no abrasions on the lower trunk. .\nd on se- 

 curing the eggs, I took handfuls of featliers 

 from inside the nest and stuck them on the out- 

 sitle and base of the limbs near by, so they 

 could not fail to attract his attention. Sure 

 enough, two days afterward, with a friend, he 

 lay in wait over three hours (o shoot the hawks, 

 without seeing a bird. 



His companion tolil me that he bad I'limbeil 

 the tree with bis eliiiiisy irons, sure of the 

 eggs. Upon reaching tlii^ nest, he sung out in 

 his surprise, " I'here isn't an egg in it. I'll bo 

 hanged if he hasn't got "eml" "Who's got 

 them '?■" said the watcher below. And the re- 

 sponse from the young collector "up a tree" 

 was: "What, don't yon know? He's always 

 around. It's that rascally ' J. M. W.' of course I" 



Nesting of the Burrowing Owl. 



IIY I.. B. ii.vi!tzi:li.. 



The r.iirrowing Owl (Speotyto cuiiicularia hy- 

 [iiKjiai)., is a very eominou bird in the Western 

 part of the United States. It is resident vvhere- 

 ever found, and lives in colonies, almost always 

 occupying the same " Prairie Dog towns'' with 

 the dogs. It does not occupy the same bur- 

 rows with the dogs however, although some 

 people think they do. 



A deserted L'rairie Dog burrow is always se- 

 lected for its nest. The hole is generally 

 crooked, although sometimes it is straight. It 

 is about seven inches in diameter at the en- 

 trance, but narrows down to about six inches 

 where the nest is. This is usually about four 

 feet from the entrance of the burrow, but I 

 have found some that were only two feet, while 

 others would be ten feet from the opening. 



The nest is simply a slight excavation iu the 

 ground, at the end of the burrow, and is lined 

 with small pieces of wool, and any refuse ma- 

 terial that may be found lying aniund loose on 

 the prairie. 



I have heard it stated that the owls and the 

 l'rairie Dogs all live in the same burrows, but 

 I think this is a mistake, as I have never found 

 it to be the ease in the many nests that I have 

 dug out. I was also cautioned against rattle- 



