136 AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



to her treasures. Ten days later the parent birds began teaching the young 

 to fly. She would go a little ahead and call to them, but they were afraid 

 at first. The first attempt of one of the young wrens at singing was ludi- 

 crous. He started off fairly well with a tea-kettle, tea-kettle, but lost his 

 voice and ended in a rapid trill. I have seen this family of wrens many 

 times since, as they are loath to leave their old home. 



The following is an examination of the nest : Feathers, 65 ; hair from 

 horse's tail, 70 (longest 16 inches); excelsior, 18; grass, 40; string, 4 long- 

 est 18 inches); onion skin, 3; rootlets, 17; leaves, 30; pieces of rag, 5; re- 

 mainder corn silk and moss. 



linn m 1 1 1 1 1 1 ii 1 1 1 1 1 1 ii in i n 1 1 ii i « i hi iiniiiiiin mil i tmm 

 | THE OLD OWL'S NEST. 



g By Winfield Catlin. 



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Situated two miles north of Annapolis, Ind., is a cliff on Roaring Creek, 

 which is a nesting site of the Great Horned Owl that has been used for years 

 and years. The oldest citizens of the community can recall when in their 

 boyhood they visited the "Old Owl's Nest," to get a peep at the queer little 

 snow white babies, for the young owls are covered with a snow white down 

 until they are pretty good sized children. 



Whether the same pair of birds occupy this nest year after year is un- 

 known, for occasionally a neighboring farmer is known to kill a "bubo" in 

 this vicinity for alleged depredations on his treasured Plymouth Rocks. And 

 sometimes, no doubt, his suspicions were well founded, but in my exjjerience 

 I have seldom found the remains of poultry in the nest of Bubo virginianus, 

 and the breeding season is certainly the time to study the g astronomical hab- 

 its of one of our most powerful raptores. I have most frequently found the 

 remains of rabbits, skunks, squirrels and occasionally a Ruffed Grouse. 



There never has been a season in my many years of bird study here that 

 this above mentioned nest has not been occupied by a pair of Great Horned 

 Owls. I have not immediate access to the many notes that I have on this 

 "Owl Nest" but I can recall many of them. 



The cliff in which the nest is located faces the south and, therefore, is 

 shielded from the cold, cutting winds and reaps the advantage to be derived 

 from the warmth of a pale winter sun. The nest was in a niche in the cliff 

 about fifty feet from the ground, and could be reached only by climbing up 



