284 



THE OOLOGIST 



pleasant passage across the flooded 

 bottoms, the willow-haunting song 

 sparrows and cardinals singing their 

 vespers, and on the morrow the broad 

 expanse of the river a mile or more 

 in width, was to be traversed to the 

 site of a barred owl's nest, previously 

 located by the Editor Barnes. 



Day broke unpromisingly but the 

 adventures set forth, and before the 

 motor boat, ready at the river side, 

 had cast off the sun began to shine. 

 Soon a fair progress was had against 

 the stormy current which, even in the 

 dead water covering cornfields and 

 willow swamps, was to be reckoned 

 with, and the voyage bade fair to pros- 

 per. On the way birds of recent ar- 

 rival were noticed. One was struck, 

 particularly, with the large numbers 

 of male tree-swallows, evidently hav- 

 ing come with the warm rain of the 

 night before. The writer had never 

 before met a sight such as was afford- 

 ed by a raft of blue-bills, some three 

 or four thousand in number. All the 

 blue-bills on the river, it seemed, had 

 gathered in one flock. We were told 

 by Mr. Barnes, that a greater flock 

 had not been seen at this point for sev- 

 eral years. 



A barred owl, we may judge, will 

 not be denied residence of its form- 

 er home. At least the bird to which 

 our visit was paid showed some such 

 pertinacity. A river fisherman had set 

 up his tent beneath her ancient bass 

 wood tree long before the duties of 

 incubation had urged her to select a 

 nesting site; but no other would do. 

 Into the domain of the fisherman and 

 the owl, enter the editor and the re- 

 porter of this tale. Of the former one 

 may be sure that he is no more closet 

 naturalist; as a witness the account 

 given in the paragraph below. 



Now the well-built young man who 

 piloted us up the river seemed the log- 

 ical person to climb thirty feet into 



that tree; — a fine vegetable seven feet 

 around — but no! in a twinkling the 

 editor-guide and woodland expert, had 

 harnessed on his climbing irons. It 

 was no slight task for a younger man 

 —the Editor of THE OOLOGIST is 

 more than fifty, — but the difficulties of 

 protruding knots and snags were over- 

 come with a skill nothing short of sur- 

 prising. 



The Owl left the hollow as the climb- 

 er put spurs in the base of the tree, — 

 this is contrary to the belief of the 

 writer, who held that the species sets 

 closely. Flying into the upper bran- 

 ches of a nearby tree one or two fur- 

 ther flights lost her in the timber and 

 she was not seen again. The nesting 

 site was a natural elliptical hollow, 

 the lower portion descending below 

 the rim of the ellipse and in a measure 

 protected by the extension of the cav- 

 ity above. The eggs were far advanc- 

 ed in incubation. 



An invitation to the fisherman to 

 guide us to other owl trees of which 

 he had knowledge was declined. A 

 heavy wind had come up blowing con- 

 trary to the current, and the river man 

 didn't "like the looks of things out 

 there." But the leader of the expedi- 

 tion obtaining directions from our 

 squatter-host, we undertook to reach 

 two. more "snags" supposed to contain 

 nesting owls. These were, however, 

 untenanted and so the run was made 

 for home with a stop enroute in the 

 shelter of a timbered "hog-back" to 

 lunch and talk and let the sun and 

 wind "soakin." 



Nothing is lacking of a successful 

 Oologist experience when a bright 

 April day, good company and to ac- 

 quire the special treasure sought are 

 all so happily combined. 



E. A. Ford, 

 Chicago, Illinois. 



