Oct. 1887.] 



a:n^d oologist. 



161 



same may be said of its nest, which is quite as 

 peculiar and interesting in construction and 

 material as in the situation. It consists chiefly 

 in common green moss which remains fresh 

 until after the young have left. The lining is 

 mostly of hair and fine grass. Some nests 

 have nothing but the moss which is loosely 

 thrown in until the cavity is filled to a proper 

 height. I have removed from a single cavity 

 upwards of a quart of moss, besides the grass 

 and other substances. 



In most cases the hole in which the nest is 

 placed is badl}^ broken out and decayed and the 

 top of the nest is seldom more than six inches 

 below the entrance, while it is often filled to 

 the top. My first record for 1887 was a nest 

 with six beautiful eggs, placed in the small 

 cavity of a horizontal willow limb reaching far 

 out over the water; the limb being slender and 

 the entrance on the under side there was but 

 little room for any nest and the eggs were 

 arranged on a slight layer of hair and grass, 

 back of which for at least a foot the cavity was 

 filled with moss. This nest, could it have been 

 preserved in its original shape, w^ould present a 

 somewhat singular api^earance. 



The eggs of this Warbler while showing 

 some variation in markings are usually of a 

 rounded oval shape of nearly equal size at the 

 ends, some being nearly spherical, while others 

 are much elongated. Out of a large number of 

 eggs collected during the past season, the typi- 

 cal set sho\vs measurements as follows: .73 x 

 .55; .73X.52; .73x.52; .72 x. 52 and .72 x .50. 



The usual number of eggs laid is six, some- 

 times five and but rarely seven. 



Nesting of the Short-eared Owl. 



(Asio Accipitrimis) . 



BY DR. yV. S. STRODE, BERNADOTTE, ILL 



On April 19th, 1887, I had occasion to go to 

 Spoon Eiver and three miles above town, so I 

 thought I would improve the occasion by mak- 

 ing the run in my boat and ou the return to 

 take a look for nests of the Baptores. So tak- 

 ing my climbers, a hatchet and a ball of string, 

 I considered myself equipped for a climb to any 

 kind of a nest that might turn up. 



Throwing oft' my coat and vest and there not 

 being much current in the river — the mill dam 

 backing the water for five miles — I took the 

 shady side of the stream and made my boat 

 fairly flash through the clear water, arriving at 

 the spot where I wished to land in forty min- 



utes from starting. In returning to the boat 

 after attending to my business, I noticed a sin- 

 gle crow away down the river a quarter of a 

 mile, that appeared to be liaving a camp meet- 

 ing all by himself. The location was a swampy 

 marsh, with a dense growth of scrub or swamp 

 oak, with an undergrowth of hazel so thick 

 that to go through it a person at times would 

 have to go down on all fours. Suspecting an 

 owl or a hawk to be the cause of all this fuss 

 from the crow I at once started for the locality. 

 Making my way for a hundred yards or so, 

 I was electrified to see a Short-eared Owl, 

 {Asia AccipUrinus) fly from a skeleton nest 

 twelve feet up in an oak. Going up I found 

 nothing in it and after thinking the matter over 

 a while I concluded that this might not be the 

 nest of the owl at all. After searching about 

 for a short time, I came to a tree containing a 

 nest at the height of about fifteen feet, and 

 presently the ear tufts followed b}^ the yellow 

 eyes came up over the edge of the nest and pro- 

 ceeded to size me up. 



Now, 1 thought, there can be no doubt about 

 this being the right nest, and going to the tree 

 I commenced the ascent. At the first step the 

 Asio left the nest and disappeared in the thick 

 brush, and I did not see either of them again 

 until I had got within four feet of the nest, 

 when suddenly they appeared, growling and 

 caterwauling like angry Tom cats. After 

 watching their sti-ange actions for a short 

 time I went on to the nest, and was almost 

 struck dumb to find it entirely empty. This 

 I could not understand, as the nest had every 

 appearance of having been occupied for a con- 

 siderable time. It was composed of twigs with 

 an inner lining of grape vine bark and feathers. 



Not being able to solve the problem, I turned 

 to look at one of the owls that sat on a limb 

 about eight feet from the ground and about 

 thirty feet from me. This one, which I took to 

 be the male from his coarse voice, finding him- 

 self observed proceeded to treat me to a tum- 

 bling feat and to play the cripple act to perfec- 

 tion. Throwing himself backward he fell off 

 the twig down to the ground where he rolled 

 about in apparent great distress. But on my 

 starting down from the nest, a transformation 

 immediately came over them and they disap- 

 peared quickly in the brush and I saw them no 

 more. 



Sadly I returned to my boat, and during the 

 trip home and for the rest of that day the query 

 was constantly in my mind, why was there not 

 eggs in that nest? Or if there had been what 

 had become of them ? 



