July,, 1 893-] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



103 



counted about 60 nests built fiat on tiie tules 

 (tiiere being no trees in that part of the 

 countrj'). After talcing some good sets of 

 these eggs, we went all around among the 

 islands and found some American Eared 

 Grebe and also one set of Western Grebes, 

 three eggs. These Grebes, or Hell Divers 

 as they are called locally, build a floating 

 nest on the still water, and construct the 

 same of tules ; the eggs are therefore not 

 more than t\vo inches from the surface of the 

 water. As we were all tired and provisions 

 growing alarmingly low, we concluded to go 

 home. If I gave a description of that I fear it 

 would be simply a description of high waves, 

 sea-sickness and terror for all the boys and 

 delight for the captain. Never was I more 

 glad to get on dry ground again with my eggs, 

 for on the trip home wouldn't I have given 

 them all for some assurance that we would 

 get ashore safely. 



The next day my cabinet bore evidences 

 of a good addition, and, after all, was not 

 this a trij) to look back upon and feel proud 

 of? H. C. Johnson. 



American Fork, Utah. 



Nesting Habits of the Great-horned 

 Owls. 



We have found three nests of this species 

 during the past few years near the river Si. 

 Lawrence. The first some years ago in a 

 small tamarack tree, which in May held two 

 young just able to fly. -This nest had pre- 

 viously been a Crow's. The second in 1892, 

 in a second-growth white pine. It was a 

 disused squirrel's abode, and on the 25th of 

 April contained two young about a fortnight 

 old. The young were not molested, but this 

 year there were no signs of Owls in those 

 woods. This year we found a nest in a 

 white birch on the nth of April; it con- 

 tained two eggs ; incubation advanced. The 

 same nest last year and the year before was 

 tenanted by the Red-shouldered Hawk, 

 which is our most common Hawk in this 

 locality. This is all I know of the habits of 



Bubo Virgi7iianus, except that we have 

 kept one in confinement for several years, in 

 fact since it was a nestling. I have it still. 



C.J. r. 



Leeds Co., Ont. 

 Nesting of the Broad-winged Hawk. 



I enter Buteo lafissiiniis as a tolerably 

 common breeder here, as I know of four 

 nesting localities within five miles of this 

 village, and had I time to explore suitable 

 territory during the meeting season, doubt- 

 less many more would be found. 



Speaking of the Broad-wing, calls up 

 pleasant remembrances of my first acquain- 

 tance with the nesting of this species, and 

 it was the first Hawk's egg to enter my col- 

 lection. Although it was taken over ten 

 years ago, the scenes and incidents of the 

 trip are as fresh in my memory as though it 

 were yesterday. I have no need to refer to 

 my note-book to give the data. 



May 6, 1883, 1 was searching for nests in 

 the large tract of timber known as the 

 " Eight)' .^cres." Coming out on the brink 

 of a hill, where the forest slopes down to the 

 banks of Black Brook, the object for which 

 I had so long and eagerly tramped the woods 

 met my view, sitting quietly on her nest. 

 Some distance below I saw a Hawk and I 

 hurried down. She reluctantly left at my 

 approach, but kept about the nearest trees 

 uttering her sorrowful, pleading notes until 

 I left the vicinity. The tree was a rather 

 scrubby white oak, easy to climb. I was 

 soon at the nest, twenty-five feet up in a 

 crotch near the top. It was small in diam- 

 eter, but deep and with a shallow nest cavity. 

 There on a lining of bark strips, scales of 

 hemlock bark and green sprigs of hemlock, 

 lay a beautifully marked egg. The mark- 

 ings are bright russet, on a ground color of 

 greyish-white, with a slight tinge of green- 

 ish. They are very heavy, and evenly dis- 

 tributed over the entire egg ; very little of 

 the true Erround color shows ; here and there 



