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THE OOLOQIST 



floating in the water by Dr. Shaver 

 close to shore. Tlie liead had been 

 eaten, and previous experience at once 

 suggested Horned Owls to the doctor. 

 He dashed it liberally with strychnine 

 and put it on the shore close to where 

 "he found it in the morning. Upon 

 visiting the spot on the morning of 

 the 14th he found the duck with a few 

 more bites taken out of it and on the 

 shore near it a fine Dusky Horned Owl. 

 While congratulating himself upon the 

 results of his experiment he glanced 

 up into the woods and some distance 

 away saw a suspicious looking object 

 at the foot of a large fir. Investiga- 

 tion showed it to be another owl of 

 the same species, probably the mate 

 of the first one as dissection showed 

 them to be male and female. Both 

 birds had been poisoned by the same 

 bait, which makes it seem likely that 

 these birds may at times hunt in cou- 

 ples. The female of this pair smelled 

 so strongly of skunk, upon which she 

 had undoubtedly made a recent meal, 

 that I found it by no means a pleas- 

 ing task to prepare her for my collec- 

 tion. 



Dr. Shaver has had a great deal of 

 trouble from the depredations of this 

 species of owl upon his ducks, and 

 during the past two years has killed 

 eight or ten of them. A fine Mallard 

 that was killed by them had been 

 dragged through the brush to a large 

 fallen fir, under which it was hidden. 

 The doctor gave it the proper treat- 

 ment and next morning showed a 

 dead Horned Owl, its claws deeply 

 liuried in the body of the duck. Re- 

 turning to a kill seems to be a com- 

 mon habit with them, but it was new 

 to me that they hid their prey after 

 they had eaten sufficiently. 



They are very large eaters, the 

 stomach of one that I examined con- 

 taining an entire house rat, about two- 

 thirds grown, and a Wilson's Snipe 

 that haw been torn into three pieces. 



At the base of a nesting tree, after 

 the young had fiown, I have found the 

 remains of Sooty Grouse, Oregon 

 Ruffed Grouse, Ring-necked Pheasant, 

 Steller's Jay, and the skull of one 

 squirrel. All owls are on the protect- 

 ed list in Washington, but, although I 

 am considered somewhat of an extrem- 

 ist on bird protection, I think that in 

 the case of the Ducky Horned Owls 

 our sympathy is for the most part 

 wasted. 



An Expensive Set of Blue Gray Gnat 

 Catchers. 

 While looking for a Scarlet Tan- 

 ager's nest, I noticed a Blue Gray Gnat 

 Catcher fly from the top of a tall sweet 

 gum tree, alighting on a small bush on 

 the ground, collecting cob-webs. This 

 bird coming near the ground was un- 

 usual; as a natural rule they dwell in 

 the utmost tops of the trees. By it 

 coming near the ground I kept my 

 eyes on the Gnat Catcher. She left 

 the bush with cob-webs in her mouth 

 flying straight up to the top of the 

 sweet gum tree, alighting on a small 

 limb about one inch in diameter and 

 two feet from the trunk, which was 

 about 58 feet up. I knew the nest was 

 nearly completed as cob-webs are the 

 finishing touch on their nests, so I sat 

 down at a distance from the tree and 

 saw her make three different trips to 

 this certain limb. After convincing 

 myself that the nest was there I re- 

 turned home; then on May 23d I was 

 back again expecting a full set. So 

 strapping on my climbers I proceeded 

 up the tree to where I thought the 

 nest was, but not finding it there, I 

 went on up ten feet farther, and while 

 looking around for the nest there 1 

 recognized the small limb, then two 

 feet from me was the nest which was 

 a fine specimen of architecture and 

 matched the limb so natural that it 

 was difl^cult to find, as it resembled a 



