116 



THE OOLOGIST 



currences in bird life, we now and then 

 in our ranables come across something 

 unusual that we would like very much 

 to have explained. The following for 

 example: A willow tree in a swamp 

 was the chosen place for a Green Heron 

 to build its nest this season. Some 

 twelve feet above the ground the tree 

 crotched, forming two limbs, both of 

 which had been broken but had not 

 fallen; the outer branches having 

 caught in other trees, leaving the brok- 

 en limbs in a horizontal position. One 

 was broken some two feet above the 

 other. On the lower limb I found the 

 nest, containing two young and an in- 

 cubated egg. Two feet abov« on the 

 other limb was another egg. kept in 

 place only by the splintering of the 

 broken part. The egg was fresh but 

 somewhat faded from exposure to the 

 weather. Some one explain how the 

 egg came to be in this position! Did 

 the nesting bird, or some other, deposit 

 it there? If a bird— why? This marsh 

 was hardly a place for squirrels — be- 

 sides an animal would hardly have left 

 it there unbroken. 



On a rather cold day last February I 

 was attracted by the actions of a Red- 

 bellied Woodpecker. He was contin- 

 ually visiting an old dead stub, seizing 

 something in his bill, and then flying to 

 a slender dead sapling he would deposit 

 his burden in some slight crevice or 

 hollow. After watching him make 

 numerous trips, I determined to find 

 out what it was he was so industriously 

 moving. Knowing that the articles 

 could be easily dislodged, for he placed 

 his load wherever a resting place could 

 be found in the rough trunk of the sap- 

 ling. I walked over and gave the tree a 

 vigorous kick Down came a shower 

 of butternuts. Now can some one tell 

 me what earthly use this bird could 

 have for these nuts — every one of which 

 had been opened and the kernels re- 

 moved by squirrels? Not a sound nut 

 in the whole. I thought of worms be- 



ing in the shells, but they could have 

 been as easily removed in the big tree 

 from whence the bird brought them. 

 I might also ask why it was that a "cun- 

 ning" Crow should choose to build its 

 nest, and deposit five eggs, on a scantly 

 wooded hillside and in a tree not two 

 feet from a path where both men and 

 cattle pass. A large woods being less 

 than an eighth of a mile distant. 



After all I believe that we love the 

 birds more because we understand their 

 taste so little. Our interest in them 

 would be much less if we could explain 

 all their actions, know all their secrets 

 and read all their thoughts. 



E. A. DOOLITTLE, 



Painesville, Ohio. 



The Pacific Horned Owl. 



Bubo virginianus pacijicus^ (Cassin). 



It was my good fortune in my collect- 

 ing rambles of this year to "stumble 

 upon" three nests of this species, all on 

 cliffs and, strange to relate, all contain- 

 ing eggs. The female bird was shot in 

 one instance and well seen in the other 

 two. I have found several empty nests 

 that I think belonged to this species — 

 one contained a thriving family of three 

 Western Red-tails on June 10th. With- 

 out exception the nests were without 

 lining and all bore evidence of age. In 

 one the eggs were laid on a slight plat- 

 form of twigs, a slight "fence" being 

 built around them to prevent their roll- 

 ing off, while in the others the bare 

 ground of the shelf formed the floor of 

 the nest and a substantial rim made of 

 large twigs and feathers surrounded 

 the set. The birds did not flush read- 

 ily nor did they return to the nest until 

 I had gone out of their sight. All of 

 the nests were in easily accessible 

 places, while a pair of American Ravens 

 [Corvus corax sinuatus) chose the most 

 precipitious face of the triangular cliff 

 on which one of the owl's nests was 



