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THM OOLOGIST 



the lake until some gunners from the 

 city interrupted them. Since then I 

 have lost trace of them, although 

 there may be other nesting sites in 

 this section. I do not know of them. 



The Osprey is occasionally seen 

 here but I do not know of any nesting 

 sites in this corner of the state. It is 

 quite interesting to see them catch 

 fish from the river and lake. 



During the early Spring Black Vul- 

 tures are quite common but I have 

 never seen them here later than the 

 middle of May. 



The Turkey Vulture is also common 

 during the Spring and Summer, but 

 I have never known of any nests be- 

 ing found in this section. 



Of the Hawks that are common nest- 

 ers here, we have the Red-tailed, Red- 

 shouldered, Coopers, Broad-wing, 

 Starp-shinned, Sparrow, and Marsh 

 Hawks, and put them in an open coop 

 out in a pasture field. The old ones 

 were very attentive and fed them reg- 

 ularly. Nearly every day they brought 

 them young chickens. 



One day last April while out col- 

 lecting I took one set of two badly in- 

 cubated eggs of the Red-tail from a 

 nest 56 feet up in a big beech. Also 

 one set of three fresh Cooper's at 70 

 feet up. Also one set of three fresh 

 Red-shouldered. This nest was in a 

 three prong crotch of a beech 76 feet 

 up. Without limbs and as I never use 

 climbers this was no cinch for an old 

 man, but it was worth doing. Such 

 beautifully marked eggs and a hand- 

 some nest lined with small hemlock 

 twigs. These three nests were all 

 found within a distance of one-half 

 mile. 



Of the Owls we have the Great Horn- 

 ed Owl which is quite common. Bar- 

 red Owl very common; screech Owl, 

 very common. Aside from these we 

 have occasionally the Long and Short- 

 eared owls. The latter I have only 



met with from early fall until early 

 Spring. For two seasons the Saw-whet 

 owl has been here and I am sure that 

 a pair nested last season in the big 

 woods near here. It is very seldom 

 we see the Snowy Owl here. 



During thirty years of observing 

 birds in this section, I have seen but 

 two specimens of Barn Owl. During 

 the winter of 1901 two Great Gray 

 Owls lived in the big woods. I saw 

 them almost daily while at work; they 

 seemed quite tame. Since then I have 

 not seen any of them. 



On F'ebruary 21, 1913, I located a 

 nest of the Great Horned Owl 60 feet 

 up in the crotch of a big Swamp ma- 

 ple; the nest seemed built by the birds 

 themselves. Later on I will write from 

 the big woods. 



S. V. Warram. 



Virginia Bird Notes. 



This is the mildest winter we have 

 had in many seasons. Last year, 1912, 

 the Starlings appeared for the first 

 time on January 4th; were again seen 

 on the 8th, and last seen on March 6th. 

 None remained during the summer, 

 and this winter was not severe enough 

 to drive them down here again. 



Eagles were two weeks earlier in 

 coming this season. February 9th 

 found them settled and two sets taken 

 the 18th were incubated nearly three 

 weeks. But I shall not go into detail 

 about the Eagles, for W. B. Crispin 

 of Salem, N. J., came down again to 

 visit me and he will tell you of this 

 year's experience. Ducks and Geese 

 are migrating Northward in great 

 quantities already, while the warm 

 weather has been disasterous to the 

 markets, wild water fowl shipped in 

 being in terrible condition, and I was 

 informed about 50 per cent, of those 

 killed were spoiled. 



H. H. Bailey. 

 Newport News, Va. 



