THE OOLOGIST. 



ly incubated eggs from a cavity twenty 

 feet up iu a dead black ash. 



Mr. Willhehii found the followiug 

 nests: One on M^y 15, 1887, coutaiu- 

 iug live young, nearly covered with 

 feathei'S. In cavity in large oak near 

 Kalamazoo, Mich. 



On April 27, 1892, five eggs wei'e 

 taken from a cavity in a small dead 

 beech. 



A young Screech Owl which he took 

 from the nest in the gray pin-feather 

 plumage soon took on the red plumage. 

 This Owl became quite a pet. Once a 

 boy stole it from its cage and carried dt 

 fully a hundred rods away. After sev- 

 ei'al days it escaped and at once i-e- 

 turned to its rightful mother. 



Great Horned Owl, Bubo virgin- 

 ianus (Gmel.) Also known as big 

 Cat Owl and Hoot Owl. The name Cat 

 Owl is also applied to other species and 

 is, from the resemblance of tha eyes 

 and tufts of feathers to the cat's head. 

 Some ignorant ceuntry people believe 

 that Cat Owls bear their young alive, 

 and I have been repeatedly informed of 

 this remarkable condition by unobserv- 

 ant falsifiers. Hoot Owl is a name ap- 

 plied to both this species as well as the 

 Barred Owl. 



The song, if we may call it so, of the 

 Great Horned Owl is a repeated hoot. 

 This note is not usually given more 

 than four times at a period, and or- 

 dinarially only three times, as 'hoot hoot 

 hoot.'' Often the notes are given but 

 twice and at times only a single hoot is 

 issued. Though called hoots I prefer 

 to pronounce the noise '■who\ as the 

 note certainly has not sound in it. 



The song of this Owl, ivho who ivho, 

 as it is generally uttered in the silence 

 of the night is eniirely different from 

 the longer and more varied effort of the 

 Barred Owl, though both are sonoi'ous 

 and sepulchral in tone. The Great 

 Horned generally gives a who then 

 skips a beat and then two whos in suc- 

 cession and quicker. This description 



may be of slight advantage to those wha 

 are not versed in bird notes, but I am 

 satisfied that all -Owl observers can 

 catch my meaning. When iour whos 

 are given th- last two are alone uttered 

 quickly, and generally when only two 

 notes are given thej' are issued deliber- 

 ately. 



The Barred Owl's notes are a series 

 of whos, generally four or five, with the 

 last one long drawn out rising and fall- 

 ing and with a gutteral chuckle in it. 

 It may be readily I'ecoguized from this 

 description. 



The Horned Owl is the most power- 

 ful night prowler that we have. It is 

 also cunning, and bold when necessity 

 demands. As a resident it defies our 

 coldest winfer weather, and lays its 

 eggs when most of Michigan's birds are 

 still at the south. 



It is said that the Snowy Owls and 

 many other species of northern birds 

 are driven south by the cold weather. 

 I have never credited the theory of cold 

 weather migrations as applied to the 

 Snowy Owl, though it may be true. If 

 it is so, I can attest to the superior 

 ability of the Great Horned to with- 

 stand severe weather, for one reason 

 Avhen the Snowy Owls of the north 

 were here in force and were reported 

 from all over the country, our Horned 

 Owls nested as usual in February. 

 That 3'ear,I believe it was '78, eggs were 

 taken on the eighteenth of Februai'y, 

 and after this date the mercury went 

 below zero several times. I have not a 

 doubt but that young Horned Owls 

 were hatched long l^efore the Snowies 

 thought of returning to their northern 

 hoir.es. 



The eai'liest that Horned Owl's eggs 

 have been taken hereabouts is Febru- 

 ary twelfth, while the biids nearly all 

 lay their eggs before March tenth. In 

 fact it is an unusual occurence to se- 

 cure fresh eggs after early March. 



Way back in the centennial year the 

 collectors of this city began collecting 



