ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND — 



OOLOGIST. 



$1.00 per 

 Aiiiium. 



Published for tuk BRISTOL ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 



Established, March, 1875. 



Single Copy 

 10 Cents. 



VOL. XII. 



BOSTON, MASS., AUGUST, 1887. 



No. 8. 



Our Local Raptores, Bristol County, 

 Mass. 



m HILTON B. READ. 



Says a writer on New Euglaiid birds, — Mr. 

 H. I). Minot, — "Size has always a fasciiialioii 

 for the world. Tlie young collector prizes a 

 hawk's egg more than that of the rarest war- 

 bler. The egs^ is big, the bird that laid it is 

 big, the nest in which it was laid is big, the 

 ti-ee in which the nest was built is big, and the 

 wood in which the tree grows is big." 



1 confess to be under the sway of the '•'fasci- 

 nation", and although having passed the stage 

 of life, in which I figured as a "young collec- 

 tor", yet my interest does not abate, nor my 

 zeal flag, in the pursuit of king Buteo; neither 

 does "size" alone draw me forth in search of 

 my Ofilogical treasures, but rather the difficul- 

 ties to be surmounted, prove incentives which 

 allure me; for our birds of prey do not yield 

 up their eggs without trying the muscular abil- 

 ity of the collector as he endeavors to ascend 

 the smooth trunk of some forest monarch. 



It is not my purpose to here give a list of the 

 BcqUores of our county, for it has been ably 

 done by another; simply the brief stating of 

 a few facts and observations noted afield but 

 at the same time including all the species, which 

 have been reported within the limits, and for 

 which I am indebted to many friends for their 

 assistance, in giving me such notes of occur- 

 rence, together with additional information 

 regarding our commoner varieties. 



Following somewhat the order of their no- 

 menclature we turn first to 



Long Eared Owl {Asio Americanus). This 

 species has within the past four years, been 

 absent from this county, to judge from testi- 

 mony oftered by our observers. Previous to 

 that time, ISIr. F. H. Carpenter, of Kehoboth, 

 found two nests of the bird in Swansea, (O. &, 

 O., Vol. 8, No. 8). The first nest was found 

 April 18, 1880, in an old Crow's nest, which a 



pair of Squirrels had piled with fine grass and 

 leaves. It contained four eggs, measuring an 

 average of 1.3.5x1.22 inches. Another nest 

 was found near the locality of the first one. 

 It contained three eggs, which were not taken. 

 Incubation was found to occupy twenty-six 

 days from the date of finding the nest and one 

 of the young was taken and kept in confine- 

 ment by Mr. Carpenter, in whose possession I 

 have frequently seen it. 



The latter nest was an old habitation of the 

 Coopers' Hawk, The eggs were pure white in 

 color and, as will be seen by the measurements, 

 are nearly globular in shape. 



Short-eared Owl {Asio accipitrimis) . With the 

 exception of a few, sometimes shot on the salt 

 marshes in the southern section of the county, 

 in the autumn, I can note no occurrence of this 

 species within our limits. They have been 

 found breeding in a salt meadow in an adjoin- 

 ing and similar named count}' in Rhode Island. 

 Their nests having been found by Mr. F. II. 

 Carpenter and as I had the pleasure of accom- 

 panying him to the locality, perhaps a descrip- 

 tion would be of interest. 



In a corner of a salt marsh, of large extent, 

 was a patch of rank grass and low bushes. In 

 this place, after diligent trauiping, on the morn- 

 ing of April 28, 1879, we flushed a Short-eared 

 Owl from her nest on a "hummock", where by 

 gathering together old reeds, she had "raised" 

 her dwelling above the flow of the tide, which 

 sometimes flooded the meadow to a depth of 

 a few inches. The nest contained five eggs of 

 same shape as those of Aamericanus^ but some- 

 what smaller. 



Barred Owl {Strix nelmloca). This species is 

 quite common in our county and breeds spar- 

 ingly, although more frequently than formerly. 



I quote two instances of capture and two 

 nests to which they yearly resort, in Rehoboth, 

 (Carpenter). One specimen from Seekonk, 

 (Miller) and three from Dartmouth, (Dexter), 

 besides numerous observations. One was cap- 

 tured alive and is now in confinement in the 



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



