15(5 



THE OOLOGIST. 



No duos or ciilranco fees :u'i' cxiuttd. 

 MchiIkts arc aildcd with the api)roval 

 of 111.' President. Owing to our large 

 iiieuihershii) our reports ean 1)0 publish- 

 ed at a merely uoniiiial eost for eaeli 

 member who desire to i)ureliase tlieni. 

 11 Wo have now a sti-ong and enthusias- 

 tic organization, and cordially imite all 

 ornithologists and oologists to join us 

 in advancing our favorite science. Ap- 

 plications for membershi;) ma}' be 

 made to 



J. B. Rk'HAUus, President, 



Fall River, Mass. 

 or Lynds J()XE.s, Secrotarj-, 



Grinnell, Iowa. 



A Bit of Biography. 



John Jamo Audubon, the greatest of 

 American Naturalists was born in 

 Louisiana in the year 1780. When quite 

 quite young he was passionately fond 

 of birds, and took delight in studying 

 their habits. In 1797 his father, an Ad- 

 miral in the French navy sent him to 

 Paris to bo educated. When ho again 

 returned to America he settled on a 

 farm in Eastern' Pennsylvania, but af- 

 terwards reiuoved to Henderson, Ky., 

 where he resided several years, support- 

 ing his family by trade, Imt devoting 

 most of his time to the jnu-suit of his 

 favorite study. In 1827 he went to 

 England, and coiuinenced the publica- 

 tion of the "Birds of America" which 

 consists of ten volumes — five of -engrav- 

 ings and live of letter press. Cuvier de- 

 clares this work to be "the most mag- 

 niticent monument that art has over 

 erected to ornithology." Inl830Audu- 

 l)on returned to America and soon after 

 ni;ide excursions to nearly every section 

 of the United States and Canada. A 

 popular edition of his great w'ork was 

 l)ublishod in seven volumes in 18-14 and 

 "The Quadrupeds of America" in six 

 volumes, three of plates and three of 

 letter press in 1848. 



He removed to the vicinity of New 



York aboiil IS-H), ;ir,d resided there un- 

 til his death which oecnrred in l!iey<'ar 

 18.")!, at the a>i,-e of 71 yeais. He knew 

 all birds citlier liy their iiiglit or voice 

 so thoroughly liid he know the feather- 

 ed tribe of America. 



Pail B. Haskki.l, 



Ashland, Ivy. 



The Burrowing Owl. 



During a short stay in California in 

 1888, it was my fortune to obtain a. set 

 of Burrowing Owl's eggs. 1 was rc- 

 turning hoiuo from a collecting trip one 

 day, April 21, tired and not in a veiy 

 good frame of mind, for I liad not had 

 much success that da.y, v. hen I saw one 

 of these birds tly Tip a short distance 

 ahead of me, and on drawing near I 

 discovered a hole which I rightly con- 

 jectured was the bird's burrow. Jt was 

 too deep for me to reach the bottom 

 with my hand, but I returned tlie next 

 day with a spade and after digging 

 about a foot in the ground I again tii*'d 

 to reach the bottom of the nest, and felt 

 a feather}' substance, which was the old 

 bird. I caught her tirmly by the wings 

 and drew her forth, and ]U'ocoe(led to 

 examine the nest, which (-(iiitained 8 

 pure white eggs, incubation advanced. 

 The nest was about 2^ feet deep, and at 

 the entrance was about half a foot in 

 diameter. It did not run straight into 

 the groiind but in a slanting nnmner. 



I took the old bird hoiue but after- 

 ward gave her her liberty, for as 1 

 i-obbed her of her eggs, 1 v/oiild not 

 commit a further indignity by robbing 

 her of her freedom. 



Till' Burrowing Owl breeds from the 

 Mississippi River west and is found 

 plentifully on the plains in that region. 

 It is said that it j)ften inhabits the sair.e 

 hole with a rattlesnake or some small 

 burrowing animal, but I do not think 

 it does in California. L. C. A. 



Kentuekv. 



