THE OOLOGIST. 



Tragic Death of a Field Sparrow. 



About the middle of May, 1888, 

 whilst walking through a cedai' thicket 

 looking about for birds' nests, my. at- 

 tentir>n was attracted b\' a small nest in 

 a dwarf cedar. On closer examination 

 it proved to be that of a Field Sparrow 

 (Spizclln ptsella) containing three eggs. 

 Just as I was about to remove them 1 

 noticed a bird, donljtless one of the 

 parents, hanging from the edge of the 

 nest by a piece of horse hair about 

 eight inches long. The bird was stone 

 dead and appeared to have beeu so 

 several hours. As the hair seemed to 

 be part of the lining of the nest prob- 

 ably the bird whilst setting had in some 

 way entangled its head in it, and in 

 its efforts tf) break away been strangled. 

 Although I reuuiined for some time in 

 the neighborhood the mate did not put 

 in an appearance, possil)l.y being 

 ignorant of the accident. I regret very 

 much that I was not able to dissect the 

 dead bird in order to determined its 

 sex. 



J. H. P., Jr.. 

 Balto., Md. 



Florida Red Shouldered Hawk. 

 ( Buteo lineatus AUcni.) 



This i.s the most common hawk in the 

 vicinity, being seen on almost anj- 

 In'iglit day sailing high up in the sky. 



Its Hight is even and graceful and 

 rivals that of the Vultures. 



The nest of this species is a large 

 bulky affair composed of sticks large 

 and small. It is generally lined with 

 leaves, generally green, and moss from 

 the same tree in which it is placed. 

 Sometim(!s a few feathers from tlie 

 breast of the parent are placed in it. 



It is generally placed in tlie hii"ge 

 forks of a ])inoak from 'Jo to 50 feet 

 from the ground. 



The number of eggs laid ranges from 

 2 to 4. Tlie latter being the more 

 frequent number. 



The ground color and markings of 

 the eggs vary a great deal. On some 

 the eggs have a ground color of Avhite 

 or creamy white spotted and blotched 

 with roufous brown, Avhile in others 

 the ground color and markings are so 

 confused as to be indistinguishable. 

 Some others are nearly white with the 

 bi'own spots on them very small. 



They nest in the dense bottom land 

 ! (ordering the streams. 



The date being fi'om the last of Feb- 

 ruary to the last of April. 



I found one set of parti}' incubated 

 eggs on March loth, while on Aprii 

 15th I found a set of fresh eggs. 



Like all other birds of this family it 

 is a bird of prey, and many a poor 

 chicken is sacrificed to satisfy his hun 

 ger and that of his little ones. They 

 are very afi'ectionate parents and keep 

 their young plentifully supplied with 

 food. They also protect them in tim'- 

 of dangei'. 



Knox, Lee Co., Tex. 



An Owl's Tenacity to Life. 



On September 7th. I and two com- 

 panions were huuting in the mountains, 

 about 8 miles from this city, in some 

 thick timber. One of my companions 

 had a 22-cal. ritle with him. I saw a 

 Great Horned Owl in a big pine tree 

 near by. I took the ritle and without 

 drawing a bead on it I pulbnl the trig- 

 ger. I was awarded hy se(!ing the Owl 

 fall. The dog ran to it but the oavI 

 stood him off by getting under a few- 

 twigs of a fallen tree. When we got 

 down to where the Owl was we foun<l 

 the bullet had broken its wing. As J 

 wanted to mount it, I tried to kill it by 

 driving nails into its brain. This plan 

 not being able to kill him, my compan- 

 ion shot it in tlu^ head and another shot 

 in the breast. This not making any 

 diffcn'uce we concluded to choke it to 

 death. We could have killed it by cut- 

 ling its throat but this w(nild have got 

 !)loo(l on its plumage so we took a straj) 



