112 



THE OOLOGIST. 



iag looks worse than a nest drawn into a 

 knot and literally covered with thread. 

 In no case ever carry a thread over the 

 aperture of the nest. 



Large loose nests of Crows, Hawks, 

 etc., are best prepared by wrapping 

 and rewrapping them with doubled 

 threads. The threads afterwards being 

 pulled from over the nest and secured 

 at the margin by sewing over the 

 thread and through the nest. 



The most difficult nests to prepare 

 are those which are built in cavities 

 and tunnels in banks. In preparing a 

 Woodpecker's or like nests saw off the 

 portion containing the nest and at the 

 point where the nest proper is con- 

 tained saw out a piece of the wood so 

 that the contents may be exposed. 



A Bank Swallow's or Kingfisher's 

 nest can be placed in the cabinet by 

 preparing thus: Make a box about 

 two feet long and about nine inches or 

 a foot square, one end only being 

 ■closed and the back part of the top un- 

 covered for about nine inches of a foot. 

 Now of coui'se you can guess the x'est, 

 but you must remember not to place 

 the top on your box until you have 

 placed the section of bank containing 

 the tunnel into it. The hole in the top 

 of the box is to show the nest cavity at 

 the rear of the tunnel. The whole tun- 

 nel need not be boxed but only the 

 mouth and rear portion, its whole 

 length being marked on the label. 



Hoping this is not in vain and that 

 ive may soon hear from others, I re- 

 main, the friend of our birds, 



Otto Grady, 

 Ludlow, Ky. 



Bubo Virginianus- 



An atmosphere of joyless melancholy 

 surrounds the Owl. He seems to re- 

 gard all the world as malicious and dis- 

 honest^'and looks upon fellow creatures 

 Avith suspicion and dislike. He has no 

 friends and niimerous enemies. When 



we hear the sharp screaming of a com- 

 pany of Jays or discordant clamor of 

 Crows in the woodlands we know some 

 Owl is being entertained with their de- 

 lightful society and this knowledge has 

 been the death of many a Bubo. The 

 Owl stares in a sorrowful, wondering 

 way at his tormentors as if striving to 

 solve the caase of his immense popular- 

 ity, but he ha? nothing to say; just sits, 

 meditates and occasionally shows his 

 kindly appreciation of the admiring 

 throng hy a loud snapping of the man- 

 dibles. He makes no move toward 

 proving to the Jays the merits of dark- 

 ness by placing one of their number 

 inside his feathered exterior, hence 

 their bravery. Should the cracking of 

 a twig betray the presence of an ap- 

 pi'oaching naturalist his head instantly 

 swings in the direction of the noise and 

 stares the hated, dreaded enemy full in 

 the face. His eyes open to their widest 

 extent and gleam with rays of awaken- 

 ing intelligence; he looks densely 

 thoughtful, wise, wide-awake and in- 

 terested. Then his form tilts forward, 

 then backward, then coming forward 

 again drops from the perch and glides 

 away through the woods noisless as 

 zephyr-wafted thistle-down. His flight 

 may be traced along its whole course 

 by the vociferous hilarity of the pur- 

 suing Jays till the sound ceases to le- 

 cede and we know that he is "treed" 

 once more. Thus has the whereabouts 

 of an Owl been disclosed to us from the 

 distance of over a mile. From the mo- 

 ment of his discovery by the Jays his pop- 

 ulai'ity and fame steadily increases un- 

 til in less than half an hour he may have 

 fifty jubilant fellows discussing his an- 

 atomical imperfections and merits, and 

 this in a woods where you had not pre- 

 viously observed a Jay and you won- 

 der where they all came from. It is no 

 Avonder he seeks the gloom and solitude 

 of densest timber lands and retires in- 

 to situations most remote from day- 

 light and its denizens. He seems ex- 



