Till-: OOLOGIST. 



ATTACHED TO THE OLD HOME 



Black-throated Blue Warbler built 1905 Nest on top of 1904 one. 

 Photo by E. J. Dietrick 



showed that it had been hit with num- 

 ber 8 shot as well as number 4 shot 

 at some previous time as the wounds 

 made by these shot were healed up. 

 He also found that the bird had been 

 killed with number 1 shot. This goes 

 to show that when a Snowy Owl comes 

 down in this locality it has to run a 

 gauntlet of shotguns, so to speak. 

 Breeding, as they do, in the far north, 

 beyond human habitation, they do not 

 have the instinctive fear of man that 

 birds in this locality acquire and when 

 they come here from their northern 

 home their conspicuous white plumage 

 causes them to be seen by the man be- 

 hind the shotgun and everyone in the 

 neighborhood where they may be stay- 

 ing is trying to shoot them at every 

 opportunity. 



It is quite unusual that a Snowy 

 Owl should come as far south as this 

 so early in the winter, as it is sup- 

 posed that they usually come into the 



United States during severe winter 

 weather or on account of unfavorable 

 food conditions in their northern 

 home. 



In your November issue, William I. 

 Comstock, of Norfolk, Conn., refers 

 to the taking of a set of 5 Red-tailed 

 Hawk's eggs in the early part of May, 

 1897, by W. K. Hatler, and in corrobo- 

 ration calls attention to a nest of 

 the Red-shouldered Hawk which he 

 found that had contained 5 eggs. 



In connection with this I may say 

 that in my experience of twenty-five 

 years I have never found a set of 

 Red-tailed Hawk's eggs with more 

 than 2 eggs, but have known of others 

 taking sets of 3 eggs. On the other 

 hand my experience in full set of 

 the Red-shouldered Hawk has shown 

 that their sets invariably contain 3 

 or 4 eggs in about the same propor- 

 tion as to the number of sets taken. 



