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THE YOUNG OOLOGIST. 



Nesting of the Great Horned Owl 



It has been my good fortune, since com- 

 mencing to collect eggs, to find several 

 nests of this bird, and a description of 

 some of them may be of interest to others. 

 The first one I ever saw was in what had 

 been the nest of a Red-tailed Hawk the 

 year previous. I had found it when the 

 hawks were feeding their young, and noted 

 it down for a visit about Uie first of April 

 of the following year ; so one day three of 

 us started out. hoping to find some eggs to 

 add to our collections. Our astonishment 

 was considerable, when, in response to our 

 raps on the tree, a Bvbo flew off. We 

 were all quite 3'oung and not familiar with 

 the time when the owls should have eggs, or 

 we would never have ventured to climb 

 such a tree. It was a Tulip Poplar about 

 four feet in diameter, and over sixty feet 

 to the first limb, and nearly forty from 

 there to the nest ; ninety-seven feet to the 

 nest, as we afterwards found. I had 

 generally been the climber of the party, so 

 strapped on our old pair of "irons "and 

 started. At fourteen years of age such an 

 undertaking was not a light one, and 

 although I felt brave at the outset, before 

 I had gone two-thirds of the distance to 

 the first limb, my heart failed me, and not- 

 withstanding the assurance of my com- 

 panions that the worst had been passed, I 

 turned back and felt better when I again 

 found ground. Once on ground I was 

 ready to urge some one else to make the 

 attempt, assuring P., who was three years 

 my senior, that his extra length of arms 

 would make it an easy task. He finally 

 consented, and after a tough struggle 

 reached the nest, and to our great disap- 

 pointment called down that it contained 

 two young owls, and half a rabbit, which 

 was to serve as dinner for the family. 

 Without a question as to the result, F. 

 tumbled the contents overboard, one at a 

 time. No. 1 fared badly, only surviving 

 a -few minutes, but No. 3 seemed lo think 

 100 feet drop was not much worth minding, 

 and in a few minutes was quite lively, and 

 would almost twist his head off in his 



endeavors lo watch on.- of us as we moved 

 around him. We gave him a large slat 

 box for his home, and had great amusement 

 through the summer feeding him ; after he 

 was able to fly he would occasionally get 

 out, but generally returned : his sight was 

 good in bright ;Jay light, and on the ap- 

 proach of any one he backed up in a corner 

 and cracked his bill vigorously. A cat or 

 dog seemed to excite him particularly, and 

 he would hop up and down, raise his 

 feathers and even jump against the slats in 

 his endeavors to reach, them. He was 

 finallj' shot in the following winter by a 

 neighbor,- who thought he was after 

 chickens, but we found him much reduced 

 in flesh, as he had been absent from home 

 some time before his death, and apparently 

 was unable to care for himself. 



This same nest was occupied the two 

 succeeding years by a pair of Great Horned 

 Owls, although during the first of these 

 years one of the old birds was shot oS the 

 nest. Ten years after my first attempt at 

 climbing this tree I again found it occupied 

 by Great Horned Owls, of the eight years 

 not recorded I do not know whether or not 

 it was occupied, as I did not have the 

 opportunity to visit it. This time I had 

 more years on my back and considerable 

 experience in climbing. I provided myself 

 with a good long strap, and by passing it 

 around myself and the tree, I had no dif- 

 ficulty in reaching the first limb, where I 

 left my strap and proceeded. This time I 

 found two quite fresh eggs, and felt well 

 repaid. This method of climbing we had 

 often discussed wheh boys, but for some 

 reason never tried. I found it a great 

 benefit, as I was able to drop back in the 

 strap at any time, and feel perf ecth' secure. 

 It works admirably when there are few or 

 no limbs, when they are present it is often 

 a matter of difliculty to get the strap un- 

 fastened and over the limb. To give the 

 best results, the strap should be wide, very 

 strong, and have a buckle with numerous 

 holes to shorten up when the tree gets 

 smaller. 



Of several other nests I have found No 

 1 was ninety feet from the ground, in a 



