Field Notks 213 



BURROWING OWL BREEDING IN IOWA. 



On September 20, 1914, seven members of the Sioux City Bird 

 Club made a trip to a point about eigbt miles southeast of the city, 

 to observe a small colony of Burrowing Owls. Three pairs of these 

 owls have occupied holes, in which they have reared their young, 

 in this pasture during the past summer. The owls have been com- 

 ing to this locality for a number of years, during which time their 

 habits have been observed closely by the boys on the farm. The 

 holes occupied by the owls were probably originally dug by coyotes 

 or other mammals. The birds have occupied the same holes from 

 year to year. The holes are on the side of a hill — the northwest 

 exposure. As we approached first one and then another started in 

 flight, flying perhaps 300 yards before alighting again. The birds 

 were very shy, and it was not possible to get close to them or to 

 get a good view of them. The holes in which they have their nests 

 are not deep, the boys say, they having dug out one or more of 

 them. After entering the ground, the holes make a turn, and at 

 the end, where the nest is located, is a cavity three or four feet 

 in length. There is no evidence that any other animals except the 

 owls occupy the holes. When the owls have young in the nests 

 they are much bolder than at other times. When a dog belonging 

 to the place would enter the holes he would be attacked by the 

 old birds on the outside. At other times the owls would attack 

 the dog while he was following the cattle through the pasture. The 

 owls migrate for the winter, and will leave, according to their habit, 

 about the first week in October. A. F. Allen. 



NOTES FROM COLUMBIANA, OHIO. 



An incomplete census of nesting birds within sight from the 

 porches of our house shows nests (or sites of nests not plainly vis- 

 ible) of the following: One pair of Oven-birds, one of Red-eyed 

 Vireos, one of Scarlet Tauagers, one of Wood Pewees (on a limb 

 in a maple within thirty feet from a window!), one of Phoebes, one 

 of Flickers, one of Bluebirds, one of House Wrens, one of Chipping 

 Sparrows, one of Song Sparrows, one of Catbirds, and four of 

 Robins. I am quite certain that continued searching would have 

 revealed the nests of Indigo Buntings and Cardinal Grosbeaks veiy 

 near at hand. This autumn we find several on the leafless limbs 

 that we missed in the summer. 



One afternoon this autumn a Red-tailed Hawk flew into a field 

 near the woods, and capturing a small animal, flew into a leafless 

 elm. With my glasses I could see the Hawk plainly, but not his 



