58 



THE OOLOGIST 



1917. They hooted audibly nearly all 

 night, while I was sleeping outside. 

 One specimen was shot on Nov. 24, 

 1915. It was in excellent condition. 



40. Screech Owl 



Common permanent resident. Their 

 silence during certain periods of the 

 year is quite as noteworthy as their 

 noise during other seasons. It seems 

 that after the nesting season is well 

 under way they hush and do not re- 

 sume their song until the fall when 

 the young are nearly grown. I shall 

 be interested if a specimen of Texas 

 Screech Owl is secured anywhere near 

 the discussed region, since I brought 

 and liberated a specimen of this va- 

 riety in Bethany, in the summer of 

 1914. It was seen and recognized on 

 the college campus as late as October 

 1914. 



41. Great Horned Owl 



Fairly common permanent resident. 

 Sam Dickey has had such interesting 

 experiences with these owls and their 

 nests that it would pay us to learn all 

 we can from him. However, I have 

 been fortunate enough to have found 

 three nests, secured three specimens 

 and also had three birds for pets. 

 Well, one was a pet, and two were 

 more nearly 'pets.' One of these lat- 

 ter nearly got one of my fingers. There 

 is a charm about this owl's lonely 

 haunts that calls me early every 

 spring. 



42. Road Runner 



This bird has no deserved right to 

 a place on this list save that it is in- 

 teresting to know that one liberated 

 bird braved two West Virginia winters 

 in the open, with the one outstanding 

 result that all his feathers became 

 dull sooty black instead of lustrous as 

 they were in Texas. I think even this 

 speaks pretty well for a Road Runner, 

 nevertheless. 



43. Yellow Billed Cuckoo 

 Undoubtedly nests in restricted num- 



bers though I have never discovered 

 a nest of this or the following species. 



44. Black Billed Cuckoo 



Much commoner than the former ap- 

 parently. The bird frequently breaks 

 forth into irregular song on the moon- 

 lit niglits. 



45. Belted Kingfisher 



Common summer resident. It is 

 noteworthy that two individuals braved 

 the winter of 1916. It seems that the 

 cold weather does not phase the birds 

 much so long as the creeks remain 

 open. 



46. Hairy Woodpecker 



Tolerably common permanent resi- 

 dent. The species prefers to nest in 

 the higher oaks and sycamores. 



47. Downy Woodpecker 



Common permanent resident. Speci- 

 mens collected near the town of Beth- 

 any have been, with one exception, 

 very dingy and dirty, the lower parts 

 so dirty as to be sooty gray. 



48. Yellow Bellied Sapsucker 



A regular and common migrant. 

 Their strange mewing noise is of fre- 

 quent occurrence on the college camp- 

 us at Bethany. It is barely possible 

 that the species nests in the higher 

 wilder hills. The bird while visiting 

 its sap wells has the peculiar habit 

 of alighting above the previously 

 drilled holes and then dropping down 

 to their level with three or four back- 

 ward hitches. 



To be Continued. 



Red-bellied Woodpecker 



October 5th, after chores in the 

 morning I took a stroll in the woods 

 nearby and almost the first thing I 

 encountered was a bird I ha'd not seen 

 in these parts for some twenty years. 

 At first 1 did not see the bird but 

 heard a crash, chow, chow, in a loud 

 guinea hen voice. At first I thought 

 it was a squirrel scolding me, but at 

 once I recognized it as the Red-bellied 



