THE OOLOGIST 



9 



first nest of this particular pair of 

 owls was also a Red-tail Hawk's nest, 

 as on a later visit to that nest I saw 

 the Red-tails having possession of 

 •same. The second nest of the owl's 

 has not been used since. 



E. S. Norman. 



After Owls' Eggs, 1313 and 1914 



in Oklahoma. 



(Washington Co., Little Ganey River.) 



This spring, 1914, or rather winter, 

 I was determined to get a set of 

 Barred Owl eggs from a pair of owls 

 that made me hunt a strip of woods 

 for two miles up and down the Little 

 Caney River without result last year, 

 except a suspicion of a snaggy old elm 

 with an impossible looking hole near 

 the top, an Indian said he saw them 

 fly from the tree while cutting wood 

 near it. While looking for them, I 

 located a Great Horned Owl's nest on 

 the decayed top of a giant elm; how 

 to climb it was a problem, but I did 

 it only to find three young ones look- 

 ing me in the face. Well there would 

 he another year and I would come 

 in time. There only protection was 

 some bark which extended above the 

 nest level on one side of the tree. In 

 the nest with -them was the hind parts 

 of three full grown rabbits. 



I watched the woods all summer and 

 this season, February 22nd found me 

 making my way to the old owl tree, 

 but someone had burned it down. So 

 after waiting all year, I had to make 

 a new hunt. 1 thought of every likely 

 tree, but failed to find them. The 

 next day I looked through the woods 

 on the other side of the river and 

 climbed and rapped every tree that 

 looked owly, but to no avail. One 

 old leaning elm had a likely hole away 

 up, but it looked impossible; so after 

 looking the tree over closely, what did 

 I see but the tail of an Owl sticking 

 over the top of a lower limb near the 



trunk of the tree. A few sticks thrown 

 at her brought Mrs. Owl off. I was 

 in hopes it was a Barred one, but it 

 was a Great Horned. With rope and 

 climbers, I finally reached the nest. 

 On the lower side of the tree fresh 

 eggs were in it. They were laid on 

 the decayed wood in a cavity on top 

 of the limb. I then went up the river 

 to the Barred Owl tree and with much 

 labor made the ascent, but I was too 

 early. Two subsequent trips had a 

 like ending; one on a cold rainy day. 

 But the next time Mrs. Owl failed to 

 rouse with my hammerings, so up I 

 went, feeling my time had come, when 

 about half way up, she flew out, and 

 on my reaching the hole, three eggs 

 greeted my sight. The hole was on 

 the lower side of a dead limb and I 

 had to put a rope around a limb above 

 and with one foot in the rope hanging 

 to the tree, with one hand I proceeded 

 to dip the eggs out. The flrst one 

 fell out of my dipper back into the 

 nest, about three feet. Gloom fllled 

 the air about that time, but it did 

 not hit the others. With extra care, 

 I fished them all out. One was pretty 

 well cracked, but it looked good to me 

 and I felt well repaid >for my trouble; 

 so ended a successful search. 



Albert J. Kirn. 



Rare Finds 



J D. Ball of Waterford, Pennsyl- 

 vania, reports a set of seven Field 

 Sparrows, taken June 3, 1909, at For- 

 restale, Philadelphia, six of which 

 were fresh and one addled. 



Also a set of four Speckled Robin's 

 eggs, collected at Frankford, Philadel- 

 phia in 1880. 



The Barred Owl. 



(Syrnium Varium.) 

 This large round-headed fellow with 

 big black staring eyes is the most 

 common owl found in this region. 



