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THE OOLOGIST. 



left. Wilson's Tern at this time had 

 hatched, as I found young birds that 

 could fly a short distance. 



I saw a numbor of pairs of Canvass 

 back {Aythya valhsneria), and found 

 several nests with from 8 to 10 eggs 

 each. Those with the lesser number 

 were usually fresh, the others more or 

 less advanced in incubation. The first 

 nest I found was in a clump of canes 

 and flags. I saw the bird fly out of 

 the canes, fifty feet from me. I sup- 

 posed it was a Redhead (Aythya 

 Americana) until I lieard its cry, 

 which is sometliing like the cry of the 

 Summer duck {Aix spotisa). while the 

 ^ cry of the Redhead is more like that 

 of the Mallard {Anas boschas). The 

 birds look very much alike at that dis- 

 tance, but the neck of the Canvass back 

 is longer than that of the Redhead. 

 The nest was built in the canes, and of 

 flags, cane leaves and grass, was lined 

 with down which nearly covered the 

 eggs. There were 12, of a greenish 

 yellow color, varying in size from 2 1-2 

 xl 3-4 to 2 5-16x1 3-16. The shell was 

 very brittle, cracking easily in drilling. 

 The nest was a foot high, 11 inches 

 acrQss outside, 8 inside, and 4 inches 

 deep. I found six nests with from 8 

 to 12 eggs each. 



June 23. — I found a second nest of 

 the Brant at the mouth of the Big 

 Bassett channel about seven miles 

 from the one discovered June 15. I 

 saw the birds on the wing near the 

 place. It was in a clump of i-ushes 

 and cane on the west ridge of the Big 

 Bassett in Canada water. It contained 

 four eggs similar to those found in 

 Goose Bay. The shell was rough to 

 the touch and looked very much like 

 the eggs of the wild goose {Be'-nida, 

 Canadensis), and a little longer than 

 those of the Mallard {Anas hoschas). 

 W. H. Collins. 



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Ornithological and Oblogical. 



The great field of American orni- 

 thology Jias been so thoroughly ex- 

 plained by those leaders in the science 

 — Wilson, Audubon and Baird — the 

 last with the army and navy to aid — 

 that little may seem left for those who 

 come after. But as in such a wide 

 field many minutiae must have escaped 

 their attention, I propose to give on 

 some of these my experience of nearly 

 20 years in forest and field. I begin 

 with 



THE OWLS. 



Wilson says, and his statement has 

 been repeated by Audubon and Nuttali, 

 that the Great Horned Owl lays 4 

 eggs. Nine nests have come under my 

 observation or been reported to me by 

 reliable witnesses, in none of which 

 were there more than 2 eggs. In most 

 cases these nests were in a cavity of a 

 large dead tree broken off some 40 

 feet from the ground — in others, the 

 nest of a crow or red-tailed iiawk had 

 been occuj^ied. Incubation began in 

 February. The same authors attrib- 

 ute to the 



GREAT GRAY OWL, 



and to the White, or Polar Ov\l. only 2 

 eggs. I think I am justified in con- 

 cluding that two is the normal num- 

 ber for " Strix cinerea." , A pair of 

 these birds that I took when very 

 young readily fed from the hand, 

 as they grew older fiew to meet me 

 when I came with food, and jjromised 

 to make gentle and interesting pets, 

 but circumstances compelling me to 

 leave home for some time, I reluctantly 

 set them free. Quite different was my 

 experience with another, captured 

 after it had left the nest, fully fledged. 

 Placed in a roomy cage, it continued 

 fierce and untractable tu the last. It 

 erected its feathers and snapped sav- 

 agely at the hand that offered food, 

 and even when nerirly starved by an 



