Slogi^t^ 





SEPTEMBER, 1880. 



No. 7. 



The House Sparrow. 



How sweet to hear at early morn, 



An hour or so before the dawn, 



When Morpheus would your senses wrajj — 



When you expect your soundest nap — 



How sweet when at this hour is heard 



The song of Europe's Sparrow Bird 1 



Sweeter by far than scolding shrew 

 The Sparrow's song then seems to ymi. 

 'Tis mellower than Guuea Fowl, 

 Or Raven's croak, or screech of Owl. 

 The entranced ear it doth beguile 

 Like rusty saw when scraped by file; 

 Sweet is the fish-horn's mellow tone, 

 And sweet the lost soul's dying groan; 

 Sweet is the wild hyena's cry. 

 And sweet crude violinity; 

 But sweetest sound ear ever heard 

 Is your sweet matin. Sparrow Bird ! 



So when in bed at morn I lay, 

 And twist and turn, and vainly try 

 To get an extra " forty winks," 

 'Tis'then — oh. Sparrow ! — that methinks, 

 While listening to your chattering song. 

 More tuneful far than Chinese gong, 

 I'd like to stroke your downy coat. 

 And put my hand upon you throat. 

 And wring your neck — though ne'er were 



heard 

 Again your song, dear Sparrow Bird. 



Great Horned Owl.— JBi/ho Virgin- 



tanus, and 

 Barred Owl. — Symmm Kthvlosvm 



More untidy specimens of birds' arclii- 

 tecture than the itcsts made by these Owls 

 it wovild be hard to find. Nests ? The 

 word is used erronionsly when applied to 

 these platforms, composed of sticks and 

 twigs, and decorated (?) with a pint or 

 more of the bones, skulls, blood, etc., of 

 smaller animals and birds, which give the 

 nest a filthy appearance. For two success 

 ive years I have taken eggs from the nest 

 of a pair of Barred Owls ; three sets last 

 year, (see May number of the Oologist, 



1879, Vol. 4. Book 10, page 77,) after 

 my taking which, they raised a brood of 

 three, and this year I have taken two sets 

 and they have hatched a third set. In two 

 instances the nests of tl)ese birds have been 

 supported by Squirrels' nests. The nest 

 proper, in all cases, has been composed of 

 sticks, from nearly an inch in diamater 

 down to twigs of an eighth of an inch. I 

 have seen little or no lining used, save 

 what accumulated, from the adult birds 

 bringing their prey there and skinning it. 

 This causes pellets of fur, feathers, and 

 bones to collect to the depth, in time, of 

 au inch to two inches. The first set of 

 eggs which 1 took of S. JVelndosiim num- 

 bered four. All the sets since then have 

 numbered three eggs. They vary in size 

 from 2.23 to 2.02 inches in length by 1.78 

 to l.o2 in breadth. In a series of thirteen 

 specimens, now before me, the aA'erage size 

 is 2.05 by 1.68 inches. In the nests of 

 this Owl I have found feathers of Jayis 

 Robins, Blackbirds, Sparrows, two tal, 

 feathers of a Meadow Lark, and a quan- 

 tity of feathers from our "so called" 

 Partridge, .Bon</Ha Urahellus. The nests 

 of both these birds are generally placed be- 

 tween thirty-five and fifty-five feet from 

 the ground, and always near if not against 

 the main trunk. The nests of Barred 

 Owls which I have visited, have been in 

 dry pine wood, and but a short distance 

 (200 feet) from river water. The nests of 

 B-uho Viryinianiis vary but little in gen- 

 eral appearance from those of S. Nebido- 

 aum, being a trifle broader and composed 

 of a little coarser material, and are gener- 

 ally in a dark swampy locality. A nest 

 of this specie which I found on April 6th 

 of the present year, was placed on the 



