156 



THE OOLOGISl 



to by hunger. Mice and gophers seem- 

 ed to be their favorite food and they had 

 a great liking for snakes. When I 

 would throw one of these into the cage 

 they would immediately seize it, one at 

 each end, and holding it down with 

 their feet tear it to pieces and devour it. 

 Rabbits seemed to be another favorite 

 "dish," but they seemed to be lazy 

 about this, as if I did not open the rab- 

 bit before 1 put it in it would remain 

 untouched. Probably this was because 

 the parent birds always tear to pieces 

 the food they bring to their nestling?, 

 and in captivity they failed to lea'U to 

 provide for themselves. 



During the day they would climb on 

 to their block perches and remain very 

 quiet, but toward dusk they became 

 lively and noisy, spent a good deal of 

 time trying to get out of their prison, 

 eat any food I gave them and called to 

 each other in a peculiar whistle, later 

 using the same ''Hoo, Hoo," that the 

 adult Bubo uses in the weird hours of 

 the night 



It was very amusing to see them fight 

 for the possession of a snake. One seiz- 

 ing hold of each end they would tug and 

 pull, flutter and struggle till the snake 

 would come in two, and they would 

 each take its portion to a different cor- 

 ner of the cage and devour it. 



Well to leave the young Owls and re- 

 turn to the woods in the sprirg of '93 

 On the 15th of April I found another 

 nest of Bubo virginianus, this time in 

 an old Broad-winged Hawk's nest in an 

 oak tree about 30 feet from the river 

 bank and 35 feet high. Mrs. Bubo was 

 at home and a good rap on tbe trunk 

 brought her off In this nest I found 

 one just hatched, young one and two 

 badly incubated eggs, all of which I left. 

 I might here mention that the first nest 

 recorded was in a tall oak on an over- 

 hanging branch 40 feet up on the bank 

 of a dry ravine and about 150 yards 

 from the river Boyne. The nest was an 

 old Red-tailed Hawks used the previous 



season and about the 2l8t of May, short- 

 ly after taking the young birds, I took 

 from this nest a set of three finely 

 marked Red-tailed Hawk's eggs. 



My third find of this species was in 

 the latter part of April, 94. While fol- 

 lowing the Boyne river in search rf 

 Ducks I came upon it in the main fork 

 of a giant basswood tree 45 feet up. An 

 old and very delapidated Red-tail nest 

 did duty for a home. No repairs had 

 been bestowed upon it, but the large 

 fork in which it was situated helped to 

 make it more habitable. I cou!d see 

 that the nest contained young so I 

 climbed up to investigate, leaving my 

 coat at the foot of the tree with my gun. 

 Just as I peered over the edgts of the nest 

 endeavoring to raise myself above it, 

 the old bird resenting my intrusion 

 made a dash at me, striking me in the 

 back with her talons, which I felt 

 through vest and two shirts. The male 

 bird joined in the attack, but was not so 

 bold, contenting himself with dashing 

 past or sitting on the branch of a neigh- 

 boring tree and mingling his vocifera- 

 tions with those of his three offspring in 

 their hissing and bill snappings. 



In the nest I found the hind quarters 

 of two rabbits, half a garter snake, 

 about medium size, part of a weasel, the 

 legs and one wing of a Sora Rail and 

 an almost entire male Ruffed Grouse. 



The nest first mentioned having con- 

 tained a one-third eaten Prairie Hen, 

 part of a garter snake, an almost entire 

 gopher and the hind quarters of a rab- 

 bit. This shows how royaly these power- 

 ful birds of prey supply for their young. 

 C. P. Forge, 

 Carman, Manitoba. 

 [ To be continued ] 



COLLECTOR'S TOOL. 



A POCKET INSTRUMENT FORTREE COLLECTING 

 SAVES EGGS.DANGER.TIME. 



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