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RANDOM NOTES ON NATURAL HISTORY. 



give the bare brief facts. Don't think it 

 worth noticing, do jou? 



' ' This is a great country for stragglers. A 

 Kittewalie Gull was shot here recently, and 



1 not long since a Stilt, and a Snow Goose. 



' Why, birds are getting so tame — I've just 

 mounted a Black Eagle, seven and a half 

 feet spread, that was killed with a club by 

 a man, who, riding along the road, saw it 

 on a stump just in the edge of the woods. 

 A Fisher Cat was killed this spring two miles 

 out (St. Johnsbury), by a boy who saw it 

 run across the highway, got out, followed 

 it with a stick and killed it. He brought 

 it to me before it was cold to find out what 

 it was. 



" If 3'ou wish, in future I'll make note of 

 any thing unusual and forward it promptly. 

 By the way, I've discovered one thing lately 

 I never knew before, though I presume I'm 

 the one in ignorance, viz. : that chipmunks 

 eat grasshoppers. I've set up lots of 'em 

 lately and all have had their pouches full 

 of hoppers." 



Ed. : We shall be very glad to have notes 

 of interest not only from Mr. Graham, 

 but from all. If any have records of cap- 

 ture of birds as far from their habitats 

 as the Scissor-tail Flycatcher was when it 

 visited northern Vermont, we hope they will 

 make us their tribunal to judge of the worth 

 of such captures for printing. 



Norwich, Conn., July 11, 1884. 

 To the Editors oj Random Notes : 



Your article in the Jul}' number of Ecm- 

 dom Notes referring to the fact that the 

 Great Horned Owl appropriates nests other 

 than its own, recalls to mind the taking of a 

 set of eggs from an old nest of the Bald 

 Eagle, on the north fork of the St. Sebas- 

 tian River, Florida, a year ago last Janu- 

 ary, at which I was present and assisted. 

 On the day preceding we, that is the male 

 members of our camping party, three in 

 number, started on a fishing excursion, 

 taking a short cut through the pine woods, 

 to a bend in the north fork, where we ex- 

 pected to take some large black bass. 

 Within a half-mile of our camp we discov- 

 ered the nest referred to, and, looking at us 

 over the edge of the nest was what appeared 

 to be the head of a wild-cat. For some time 

 we stood still and speculated as to whether 



it was really a cat and whether we should 

 fire at it, for we were armed with both rifle 

 and shot-gun. 



After a lengthy consultation, Read, who 

 was well up in wood-craft, decided that it 

 was a Great Horned Owl, and, rapping on 

 the trunk of the tree, disturbed her lady- 

 ship and induced her to fly to an adjoining 

 tree. The next morning we went to the 

 tree with a long rope and, after much 

 trouble, two fresh eggs were brought to the 

 ground, and are now in the collection of 

 Mr. John M. Howey, of Canandaigua, N. Y., 

 who was one of the party. 



Within a few miles of our camp there 

 were several nests of the Bald Eagle, some of 

 them occupied, from one of which a single 

 egg was taken by Read and Howey. The 

 nest from which the owls' eggs were taken 

 was evidently one deserted by its former 

 occupants and builders, the Bald Eagles. 

 Yours, Frank H. Allen. 



Mr. W. W. Graham has returned to 

 England, and reported before the Geo- 

 graphical Society some very daring and ex- 

 tended explorations which he made among 

 the Himalaya Mountains. He reached a 

 point 1,700 feet higher than has ever been 

 attained before. He and his companions 

 were able to climb, and to breathe without 

 discomfort on Dunagiri, at an elevation of 

 22,700 feet (at which point a terrible storm 

 compelled them to return). An audible 

 beating of the heart was noticed, but none 

 of the effects common to great altitude, 

 such as deafness, bUndness, headache, and 

 bleeding at the nose. They had, however, 

 become inured by experience on other peaks 

 as high as 18,000 feet. Later the party 

 ascended Gubona, 21,300 feet high, and 

 then Kabru, reaching the summit, which is 

 21,015 feet above sea-level. 



It has been for some time surmised that 

 north of Mount Everest, were peaks still 

 higher, and a range superior to what is 

 commonly called the Himalayas. Of this, 

 Mr. Graham is now positive, for having 

 penetrated so far into the chain, from his 

 elevated position he could see two peaks, 

 previously hidden, that towered above the 

 second range and showed themselves over 

 and far bevond Everest. 



"Is life worth living? Depends on the 

 liver." 



