Oct. 1906] PROCEEDINGS s. I. ass'n arts and sciences. 75 



in a small tree near by, and the third was probably in a similar position, 

 although I could not see it. Their wing: and tail feathers were quite 

 long, but the birds seemed scarcely able to fly. The pupils of their 

 eyes were still grayish. As on my preceding visit, the old owls sat a 

 little way off and hooted. [See plate II.] 



May 30th, on going through the same patch of woods, I heard an 

 adult barred owl hoot and saw a young one. It seemed rather shy 

 but never flew very far without alighting. 



While watching the rearing of this brood of owls I repeatedly found 

 that wing and tail feathers of their victims had been stuck point fore- 

 most into cracks and holes inside the nest or even into the mold which 

 formed its floor. I had once before noticed the same thing in a hole 

 in a tree that seemed to have been inhabited by screech owls. The 

 parent barred owls were often chased by crows and blue jays after being 

 scared off the nest, and once one seemed to be attacked by a red- 

 shouldered hawk. 



Mr. William T. Davis exhibited specimens and read a paper on 



The Influence of Winter on the High-water Shrub. 



In our Proceedings for June loth, 1893, it was shown that the high- 

 water shrub, Iva frutescens L., which grows so abundantly along many 

 of our salt water creeks and ditches, had been killed down to the ground 

 by the previous severe winter. In June, 1905, following an equally 

 cold winter, these shrubs were examined, and it was found that in 

 nearly every instance the old wood was entirely dead and the bushes 

 were forced to send up new shoots from the roots. This summer, after 

 the warm winter of 1905-6, our creeks and ditches presented a very 

 different appearance from what they did in June, 1905, for the Iva 

 bushes, with the exception of having the tips of the stems and branches 

 winter killed, commenced growing where they left off the previous 

 year. Indeed any one acquainted with the sensitiveness of Iva friitesceyis 

 to the cold winters could tell quite readily by an examination of the 

 bushes in summer the character of the preceding winter, and also 

 whether there had not been a very cold winter for several years. This 

 of course pertains to the latitude of Staten Island, for in the South the 

 high-water shrub grows to greater dimensions. 



Specimens Exhibited. 



Mr. William T. Davis exhibited tadpoles and young frogs raised 

 from tadpoles, representing the tree frog Hyla andersonii Baird, pre- 



