68 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 8-No. 9 



Great-horned Owls. 



Noticing " Coe's Strain" of Great-homed 

 Owls leads me to speak of another strain. 

 Your readers in Eastern Mass., will re- 

 member in the Fall of the year 1869 we 

 had a " September gale " which prostrated 

 many forest trees. Early in the spring 

 following my father in looking over a 

 piece of heavy wood which had suffered 

 considerably, noticed in an immense chest- 

 nut tree which had fallen against another 

 about two-thirds to the ground, a Great- 

 horned Owl. He started for it, when it 

 flew. Turning about to leave he glanced 

 up, when he noticed peering at him from a 

 heap of leaves thrown together with a few 

 twigs in the crotch of the tree an immense 

 head illuminated by a pair of great staring 

 eyes. On coming home he told his dis- 

 covei'y. I did not lose much time in go- 

 ing to the tree. Climbing was easy and in 

 a few moment's time I had the set of two 

 white and fresh eggs safely stowed away 

 in my collection box. Those only who 

 have made like finds can imaginge my 

 feelings of exultation. I would not have 

 exchanged my seat on that old mossy tree 

 by that Owl's nest, for any King's throne. 

 Such was my first Great-homed Owl's nest, 

 March 3, 1870. For eleven years I annually 

 visited that nest, and never once did they 

 disappoint me. My earliest set was Feb. 

 27 ; my latest for first set March 8. In 

 the spring of 1875 I did not take the 

 usual set. I was determined to settle the 

 guess work theory of their incubation. I 

 found it as follows, March 3, fresh ; March 

 16, all right ; March 25, do. ; March 29, 

 two little Buteos a day old. A second set 

 was always laid each year when I took the 

 first. On March 2, 1882, 1 started for the 

 well known nest, but alas ! for vain expec- 

 tations. On reaching the summit of the 

 hill which overlooked the woods, I found 

 that the woodman's axe had laid prostrate 

 the forest home of my Owls and only for 

 a pair of high circling Buteos lamenting 



the destruction of their retreat, all was 

 still. As I turned away with my now 

 emj)ty box I felt as though one of the joys 

 that make this life of ours worth living 

 was lost, and often as I look on those ten 

 sets of white beauties it carries me back 

 to those crisp winter walks when the col- 

 lecting season was opened by taking my 

 set of Great-homed Owl's eggs. — F. H. 

 C, Mehohoth, 3Iass. 



Red Crossbills. 



During the past spring, (1883,) sevei-al 

 flocks of Crossbills were frequently ob- 

 served among the yellow pines which are 

 common on the " Scotch Plains," about 

 two miles south of this place. On the 17tli 

 of March I secured seven specimens — five 

 males and two females. The ovaries of the 

 females showed no signs that the breeding 

 season was near at hand. 



April 10th I was attracted to the edge 

 of a small clearing by the song of a Red 

 Crossbill on the top of a tall pine. As I 

 approached, he with two or three others 

 which I had not before seen, flew away. 

 Thinking that some of them might have a 

 nest near by I began searching, and soon 

 found one on a horizontal branch of a pine, 

 about thirty feet irom the ground, which 

 looked like that oi a^s^uirrel ; but on climb- 

 ing the tree I was much gratified to find 

 that it was the nest of a Red Crossbill, 

 {Loxia curvirostra Americana,) on which 

 the female was sitting. She did not leave 

 the nest until I was within two or three 

 feet of it, when she flew off and disclosed 

 three eggs which were far advanced in in- 

 cubation. While I was securing the nest 

 she continued hopping about among the 

 branches, often coming within two or three 

 feet of my hand, uttering now and then a 

 single " chip." The nest consists of a 

 slight frame work of small twigs in which, 

 or rather on which, is built the nest proper. 

 It is composed of fine shreds of Chestnut 

 bark and moss ; and contains a few pieces 

 of "caterpillar's silk" and is lined with 



