THE OOLOGIST. 



27 



It was the Ist of May, and in an old 

 Red-tail's nest on an overhanging limb 

 of a large oak tree cear a shallow creek 

 I found a family of Western Great 

 Horned Owls. There were three of 

 them and I took them all. All were 

 different in size; I kept them for two 

 months and got some very interesting 

 notes regarding them. I then gave 

 them their liberty. On the 15th of May 

 the same year I took three Red-tail's 

 eggs from this nest. It had been slight- 

 ly repaired and a few green leaves add- 

 ed. 



But I must pass on to the past season 

 and describe some of the takes noted 

 down during the months of April, May 

 and June. 



My first find was on April 6th (this is 

 very early here) in heavy oak bush at 

 Salterville amongst scattered trees On 

 the outside of the bush I located a nest 

 of Krider's Hawk. This was an oid 

 nest and has been used for three suc- 

 cessive years. On April 2d I had taken 

 two Western Great Horned Owl's eggs 

 from this nest. The nes!; was repaired 

 and a lining of bark, grass and leaves 

 added. It was between 35 and 40 feet 

 up in oak tree on side branch on a large 

 flat fork. 



On May 4th, in light oak and poplar 

 bush on side of Boyne river three and 

 one-half miles east of Carman, return- 

 ing from a collecting trip I found a 

 Red-tail's nest in a large oak. This 

 was on side branch, hard to reach, but 

 I got to it after some hard work and 

 took therefrom three handsome eggs 

 The nest was quite new, large, of sticks 

 and twigs, lined with bark, leaves and 

 grass, and was placed about 30 feet up. 

 On the same date I got another set of 

 three Red-tail's eggs. The nest was in 

 a small poplar tree in a poplar bluff 

 only 18 feet high. The nest was the 

 largest I have ever seen. It measured 

 3 feet in height and 2^ across, was a 

 mass of large and small sticks and 

 twigs of poplar and willow and was 



built on top of an old Crow'd nest. The 

 depression was 9 in. in diameter and 

 quite shallow and srarsely lined with 

 bark, leaves and stubble. I could see 

 this nest from either north or south at a 

 distance of over two miles. 



On May 6th I took another set of 

 three. Nest in a tall oak 30 ft. up in 

 main fork, medium size, built of sticks 

 and twigs and lined with bark and 

 grass. This nest was new and although 

 there were old nests in the immediate 

 vicinity of this new one the birds seem- 

 ed to prefer to construct their own. 



Next date, May 7tb, west of Carman 

 I got another set of three. This nest 

 was in an oak, one of a clump of three 

 in poplar woods. Nest was about 30 

 feet up in a fork on trunk and was new, 

 was built like others of sticks and twigs 

 and lined with grass and bark shreds. 

 The eggs were nicely marked. 



On May 12th a set of two eggs was 

 taken from a poplar 25 ft. up in heavy 

 poplar woods northwest of Carman. 

 This nest was situated 25 ft. up, close 

 to trunk, made of poplar and willow 

 sticks and lined with grass and bark, 

 was of medium size and new In this 

 case there were several old nests handy 

 but the birds seemed to prefer to make 

 a new structure. 



I see I have m'ssed one nest, date 

 May 9th. This Red-tail's nest was in a 

 tall oak tree 40 ft. up, the tree being in 

 and oak grove and situated on bank of 

 ravine which seems to be a favorite lo- 

 cation, placed in a fork near top of tree 

 on trunk, was a large coarse structure 

 of sticks and twigs, lined with bark, 

 leaves and grass and contained three 

 eggs. This also was a new nest. 



A second set of two eggs taken on 

 May 12th was taken trom a large and 

 conspicuous nest in a poplar tree 20 ft. 

 from ground, the nest composed of 

 sticks and twigs, was lined with poplar 

 bark and a little dried grass and was 

 of this season's construction like one 

 previously mentioned. There were a 



