76 



THE OOLOGIST. 



Manufactures building, Agriculture 

 building, Auditorium, Palace of Fine 

 Arts and Machinery Hall. The three 

 later buildings will be permanent 

 structures, built of buff brick with 

 terra cotta trimmings. The "A-Y-P," 

 as it is sometimes called in Seattle, 

 will differ again from some former 

 fairs in that some of its exhibit 

 palaces will be permanent structures'. 

 The grounds are located on the prop- 

 erty of the Washington University, a 

 state institution, and after the expo- 

 sition is over the permanent buildings 

 and those substantially built will be 

 taken over by the college to be used 

 for educational purposes. 



The purpose of the exposition, 

 which is to exploit Alaska and Yukon 

 and the countries bordering on the 

 Pacific Ocean, is receiving much fav- 

 orable comment throughout the coun- 

 try. 



E. H. Short, Rochester, N. Y., 



Dear Sir:— While collecting to-day 

 I made an interesting little find 

 which, I thought, might interest some 

 of your "Oologist" readers. 



It was the nest of a Great Horned 

 Owl about 50 feet from the ground 

 in an elm tree. The nest, which con- 

 tained three, nearly full-grown young, 

 measured nearly 5 feet one way by 

 three the other, and had evidently 

 been used many years. And under 

 the nest, on the ground, was a collec- 

 tion of material which would nearly 

 warrant the erection of a glue fac- 

 tory on a paying basis. For curiosi- 

 ties sake we piled the bones and feet, 

 heads, etc., of a like kind to-gether 

 and this is what we found. Thirty- 

 three feet of Am. Coot, eight feet of 

 ducks and several heads (two mallard 

 and a spoonbill), heads of three 

 chickens and no less than forty-sev- 

 en hind legs of rabbits and six of 

 squirrel. Besides all this, there were 

 two half eaten rabbits in the nest and 



part of a King Rail. I have found 

 many such "grave-yards" of the 

 Horned Owl, but nevei', such an enor- 

 mous amount of material as this. The 

 nearest ponds to the nest are nearly 

 a mile, and the water fowl must have 

 been secured here in the night while 

 the birds were at roost. I also flush- 

 ed two wood cock to-day — the first 

 birds of this kind that I have ever 

 seen in this vicinity in over eight 

 years collecting. 



Sincerely yours, 

 GERALD B. THOMAS. 



A Question. 



Will the irrigation of the arid and 

 desert lands of the West and the 

 draining of our great Eastern swamps, 

 both colossal works now in progress, 

 for the redemption or reclamation of 

 the land for agricultural purposes, ef- 

 fect our birds, materially, so as to 

 cause an extinction of a species, or 

 with the changes of environment will 

 there occur a change in the habit of 

 the birds that inhabit these regions? 



R. F. M. 

 Oologist. 



We note that Massachusetts is seri- 

 ously approaching the problem of Bird 

 Preserves. The attempt is worthy of 

 careful trial as deforestation is the 

 greatest of all setbacks to our birds 

 these days acting against the increase 

 of forest birds as the cat does against 

 the birds of the open fields. Of course, 

 it will not be possible to make much 

 progress without extensive preserves 

 under different conditions, some high 

 and dry and some swampy, some 

 marsh land and some brush land. — 

 Editor. 



