June 1888.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



93 



a lij;:!!! to sing if he chooses, and I reply, very 

 jjood, hnt should he steal another bird's song? 

 That is the eliaige we must bring against our 

 l)retty friend, and as the solo was almost ex- 

 actly like that of the Wren Tit, it is easy to see 

 in what (juarter ourieatIiere<i larcenist got his 

 inspiration, unless he ean prove a prior owner- 

 ship. Perhaps this is a good illustration of the 

 evils growing out of the present lamentable 

 state of alTairs in international copyright ! I 

 have heard this Woodpecker singing his song, 

 and it inii)resses me on every occasion as a very 

 fair imitation of the Wren Tit's nol<'S, and one 

 with which, to an unpraeticed car, it might 

 seem identical. My surprise at hearing a Wood- 

 pecker sing a real song was much akin to that 

 1 experienced last June at the summit of the 

 Sierra, near Donner Lake, where I was privi- 

 leged to listen to some charming notes from the 

 throat of a bird I had always supposed h.id no 

 song whatever in the proper understanding of 

 that term. In a small slied, at the door of 

 whi<h a snow-drift hail piled, was a nest of 

 mud, cemented to a beam, anil lined with grass 

 and feathers. Singing joyously away on the 

 roof, I espied, to my great suri)rise, the owner 

 of the uest, a common Ham Swallow. \l no 

 other time have I oltserveil a Swallow singing. 



Nesting of Bubo virginianus. 



BY C. R. KUVKS, DES MOINES, IOWA. 



The (ireat-horiieil Owl is a ralln-r ccinimiiu 

 resident in the heavily timl)ered portions of 

 this region, and is, perhaps, with the exception 

 of Meyaseops, more familiar generally than 

 any other member of the BnhoniihiK found 

 here. The nest, as is usual with this species, 

 is a cavity in some forest tree, though some- 

 times a de.serted hawk's nest is occupied. Nidi- 

 fication commences eai'lier in the season with 

 this than any other specii'S breeding locally, 

 and even though the weather at this time is 

 severely cold as is generally the case, the full 

 complement of eggs is laid before the Kith oi- 

 17th of February, and it is not of uncommon 

 occurrence to find a broad band of ice encirc- 

 ling the impression in which the eggs are de- 

 posited. The eggs are usually two, sometimes 

 three in number, but personally they have not 

 been found to exceed the latter. .\ typical nest 

 examined on the 17tli of February, lS8;i, was in 

 a gigantic old sycamore tree, situated at the en- 

 trance to a deep ravine at Devil's (iap, near 

 I)es Moines. The cavity, about fifty feet from 



the ground, at the ba.se of two immense 

 branches, was three feet in diameter and about 

 the same height. There were three entrances : 

 the one used by the owls, on a level with the 

 bottom of the cavity, and whieli had been 

 formed by a large branch bieaking olV close to 

 its i)oint of origin; a smaller opening on the 

 opposite side; and the third at the top, a long 

 irregular slit four or five inches in width. \ 

 few inches from the first of these entrances 

 were the two eggs in a sliallow depression in 

 the decayed wood that formed the floor of the 

 cavity. Scattered around the nest were a dozen 

 or more tail feathers of the owls, the skull, and 

 bits of fur of a rabbit, the big bones of a large 

 I'aptorial bird, besides many bones of smaller 

 birds, and the body of a conunon iiigeon re- 

 cently killed. 



The following season, from the same nest a 

 set of three eggs was taken, .ind in April, an 

 egg and a young owl about a wci'k old were 

 found ; the inference being thai ubeie dis- 

 turbed, this species deposits a second set. Cer- 

 tain it is, however, that even when disturbed, 

 this bird will continue to occupy the same nest 

 year after year, and though this is personally 

 the only case in which a nest, after being once 

 examined, has received a second visit the same 

 season, it is quite probable that when the first 

 set is taken, a second one is deposited. 



About the first of May the young arc fledged, 

 and six weeks later the " horns '' are notice- 

 able. A pair taken from the nest was kept 

 confined for nearly three years in a barn, when 

 a protracted absence from home necessitated 

 the disposal of them. They were fed on fresh 

 meat from the butchers' shops, and occasional- 

 ly rats and mice, the latter they usually cap- 

 tured for themselves. 



Nesting of the Nuttall's Woodpecker. 



liV II. K. TAYI.Oli, AI.AMEUA, CAI 



Nuttall's is one of the most interesting of our 

 sinallei- woodpeckers. It is about the size of 

 (Jairdner's Woodpecker, but iiiiicb bandsonirr. 

 Their eggs still remain ilisidi rain, I believe in 

 most collections, and I therefore feel especially 

 favored this year in having seen three nests and 

 taken one set of eggs. 



I found my first nest .\pril 30, 18SS, while at 

 Sargent's, Santa Clara County, ('al. The bird 

 fiew out from the hole as I walked by it, and 

 then sat on a limb near by and executed some 



