ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND — 



OOLOGIST. 



$1.00 per 

 Annum. 



Published for the BRISTOL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 

 Established, March, 1875. 



Single Copy 

 10 Cents. 



VOL. XII. 



BOSTON, MASS., JULY, 1887. 



No. 7. 



A Week's Trip After Hawk's Eggs in 

 Colorado. 



BY FRED M. DILLE, GREELY, COLORADO. 



On May 20th, 1886, at four o'clock in the af- 

 ternoon we started. Eather an unseasonable 

 hour to start on a camping trip, but we had 

 fussed for several days in getting our "outfit" 

 together, and when we found everything all 

 packed in the wagon with several hours yet 

 before dark, we started, not earing much where 

 night would catch us. 



A little description as to the "outfit" and I 

 will proceed with ray narrative of what I con- 

 sidered a rather unlucky trip. 



The team consisted of two wiry little bron- 

 chos, one of which could be depended upon but 

 the other one needed constant watching. The 

 usual provision box, beds, tent, etc. were in the 

 wagon, and for our cooking we had the "fire 

 irons" and "bake ovens" so commonly used in 

 this country. 



For the accoinraodation of the hawk's eggs I 

 expected to gather I had fifty of the "100" size 

 cigar boxes all full of cotton and fitted in a 

 large dry goods box. 



Our route lay east from Greeley, out of the 

 Colony gate, and over the plains for fourteen 

 miles, where we came to Crow Creek opposite 

 "Hoover's sheep camp." This was the only 

 place where we could get water for miles, and 

 after watering the horses at the tanks l)y the 

 corrall, we drove up the creek till we came to 

 good feeding ground and stopped for the night. 



Crow Creek although lined with an abun- 

 dance of native cotton-wood and willow, is 

 perfectly dry most of the year for about twenty 

 miles from where it empties into the Platte. 

 To picket out the horses, put up the tents and 

 prepare our supper before dark we had to 

 bustle. 



On May 21st a Screech Owl gave us a concert 

 in the night, and the first thing I heard in the 

 morning: was the srlorious song; of the Mocking- 



bird. These birds used to breed abundantly in 

 Greeley some years ago, but left us and took 

 up their haunts in the most isolated places, on 

 account of their young being so much sought 

 after. 



Did any of "you collectors" ever taste an 

 Owl's egg? I have, and it happened about this 

 way : After breakfast I went out to look up 

 ray Screech Owl, and soon found a proraising 

 looking hole in a large cottonwood, but quite 

 near the ground. A few raps on the tree 

 brouglit out Scops, and up I went. In order to 

 get fairly at the nest I got astride a slender 

 lirab and brought out two eggs. I had just 

 wiped one off" and stuck it in ray mouth and 

 was wondering where to put the other, when 

 the limb with a loud crack came to the ground, 

 and I brought up face first. The damage done 

 was most of my teeth loose, an ugly hole 

 through mjr lip, besides a broken egg. 



After dinner we packed up and started on up 

 the creek keeping well in araong the trees. 

 Empty Hawk's nests were abundant, and so I 

 only got one egg that day. The nest was very 

 high up and parent bird not at home. The egg 

 was quite large being heavily and richly col- 

 ored with rufous brown, etc. One end seemed 

 about as large as the other. On the whole it 

 very much resembles the egg of the Ferrugi- 

 nous Rough-leg {Archibuteo ferrugineus) ^ both 

 insize, shape and color. 



Ten miles from our camp we carae to the 

 "Big timber." a large and handsome grove of 

 old cotton woods. D. A. Carapfield, a Rhode 

 Island man, has a large sheep ranche here and 

 runs some nine thousand head. A few yards 

 below his house the creek, which runs quite a 

 stream from here up, suddenly disappears in 

 the sand and is not seen again. 



A large number of Blue Herons were fixing 

 up their old nests in the tops of the trees, and 

 Mockingbirds, Shrikes, Blackbirds, Doves Fly- 

 catchers and Kingbirds were abundant. Also 

 a species of Grackle that I was not acquainted 

 with. I shot one specimen for identification 



Copyright, 1887, by F. H. Carpenter and F. B. Webster. 



