ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 18-N0. 8 



spicuous among other birds, especially the 

 Blackbirds. 



Due allowance must be given to such ob- 

 stacles as work of this nature has to contend 

 with, such as the vacant localities not repre- 

 sented by reports, the ability of the observer 

 and the amount of experience each has had. 

 However, summing up the reports we have 

 on hand, we have the following : 



The distribution of the Yellow-headed 

 Blackbird is subject entirely to the character 

 of the country. The sloughs on the prairies 

 and surrounding open lakes and rivers are its 

 habitat. It may be found breeding in a cer- 

 tain slough, whereas in another, apparently 

 just as suitable to its requirements, it is to- 

 tally absent. Prefers large sloughs to small 

 ones. In Illinois its distribution is not gen- 

 eral, and very irregular in that portion wherein 

 it is a summer resident. In the southern half 

 of the state occurs a transient species, and, 

 according to reports, is extremely rare, and 

 in some localities has not been found at all. 

 It may possibly be found as a rare winter 

 resident in the extreme southern portion. 

 In the northern half of the state it is restricted 

 to favorable localities where it breeds. Found 

 in great abundance in the counties adjoining 

 Lake Michigan, especially so at Calumet and 

 Grass Lakes, and in the northern part of 

 Henry County, No. 16. So restricted is it 

 to the localities wherein it inhabits, that a 

 casual observer, even in the neighborhood of 

 its resorts, would consider it a rare bird. 



IV. E. Loucks. 



Peoria, 111. 



Nesting of the Saw-whet Owl. 



As the nest of the Saw-whet Owl is con- 

 sidered quite a find and I have had the good 

 fortune to take several sets, I will give some 

 of my experience in that line, thinking it may 

 interest the readers of the " O. & O." .\bout 

 two miles from this village is a tract of mixed 

 timber land of 1 00 acres, more or less, com- 

 posed of about three-fourths hard and one- 

 fourth of soft wood timber, containing many 



old growth trees and old stubs, a favorite re- 

 sort for Hawks and Owls. Previous to this 

 season I had taken two sets of Saw-whets 

 from an old maple stub in this piece of woods 

 and last season found the nest in the same 

 place, containing young birds. As this brood 

 was raised unmolested, I thought my chances 

 for taking a set from the same nest were 

 excellent this season. After three visits to 

 the stub this year I made up my mind that I 

 should have to look in some other tree for 

 my Saw-whets, as I had seen nothing of them 

 and it was getting later than the usual time 

 for their nests. I was thoroughly acquainted 

 with this locality, but it is something of a 

 task to search carefully a piece of timber of 

 this extent, and after a long and diligent 

 hunt I began to think that my collection 

 would not be enriched by the eggs of Nyctala 

 Acadica. On approaching an old beech stub 

 I was suddenly surprised to see the round 

 head of an Owl looking down at me from an 

 old Woodpecker's hole twenty feet from the 

 ground. At this sight my spirits went up 

 and at the same time my coat and vest came 

 off and I prepared to "shin" up to the 

 nest. Perhaps some of you know how easy 

 it is to shin a tree that the bark has peeled 

 from and left smooth as a flag staff, .^dd to 

 this the fact that the stub was two feet in 

 diameter and it is not very surprising that I 

 came down suddenly after an ascent of eight 

 or ten feet. I also discovered after two trials 

 that the tree would not be safe for anyone to 

 climb to the top of, as it leaned quite a little 

 and was nearly rotted off at the base. This 

 put a different aspect on the matter, and I 

 began to devise some way by which to get 

 the eggs which I felt sure were waiting for 

 me at the bottom of that old nest. 



I decided that I should want at least a 

 rope and an axe ; so I went home and got 

 these articles and returned with a man to 

 assist me. The first thing was to put the 

 rope around the tree and take a loop in it, 

 then push the rope as far up the tree as we 

 could reach with a pole, nearly twenty feet, 



