THE OOLOGIST. 



29? 



common in suitable sections than is 

 generally supposed, but as it isa noctur- 

 nal species it is rarely met with. In 

 tamarack swamps and well removed 

 from all habitations the Long-ear finds 

 its food and makes its home, and in 

 these situations the birds may live un- 

 disturbed for ages and remain unknown 

 to all the inhabitants, of the neighbor- 

 hood ; until at last comes the persistent 

 egg-crank, who invades the swamp and 

 brings in the birds and eggs. 



This Owl has a very uncanny series 

 of notes, which, when uttered in the 

 depths of a forest, and in the solitude of 

 a lonesome spot on a dark night are in- 

 clined to make a boy or man feelskeery. 

 The song, for song I suppose it truly is, 

 is terribly weird, aud will make any 

 person jump at first. 



On one occasion I was tramping and 

 collecting in the mouth of May aud ou 

 finding myself a long distance from 

 home resolved to camp in the woods as 

 I had often done before. Selecting a 

 protected positiou by the side of a log 

 I built afire and -turned in with some 

 dry leaves for a matress and the sky 

 aud foliage for a counterpane. With 

 my gun at my side I was just falling in- 

 to that pleasant state bordering on sleep 

 when from almost exactly above my 

 extemporized bed chamber came the 

 most unearthly, devilish noise that I 

 ever heard. You could not call it a 

 shriek, yell, scream or any other sound 

 which man can make, or which could 

 be made by any creature of this world 

 known to civilization. 



My readers may think that they have 

 been frightened some time in their lives, 

 but it is to be doubted if they were ever 

 as scared as I for a mement. My scalp 

 solidified and straightened up "each 

 particular hair" of my head until I 

 know that my head looked like a brush- 

 pile. 



Of course my terror was all over in 

 a couple of seconds after that nocturnal 

 lover had finished his ditty, but for an 



instant I think I was as badly scared as 

 any boy ever was. 1 knew it was an 

 owl, and 1 was sure it was harmless and 

 I was not a coward by any means — but 

 catching me as if did, and before 1 had 

 the power to realize, it scared me as 

 badly or worse than a cougar's scream. 

 a lion's roar, or the war whoop of a 

 band of red-skins could have done. 



With the Prairie Warbler. 

 By Theodore W. Richards, 3d. D. 



Of the various birds breeding here- 

 abouts which from an Oologist's stand- 

 point may be called '-desirable" none 

 can be found to better advantage than 

 the Prairie Warbler. Arriving about 

 the third week in April they soon be- 

 come fairly common, and although many 

 are but transients bound further north 

 enough remain throughout the summer 

 to make them the most numerous fam- 

 ily, excepting of course the ever present 

 Summer Warbler and perhaps the Black 

 and White Creeper. But in spite of 

 their numbers they are far from con- 

 spicuous for besides their shy and re- 

 tiring ways they are decidedly local in 

 distribution and are prone to monopol- 

 ize certain chosen spots to the entire ex- 

 clusion of many others apparently 

 quite as desirable. And this is a trait, 

 by the way, often noticeable in a less 

 degree with many other birds not com- 

 monly regarded as sociable or inclined 

 to colonize. I have no doubt this is 

 largely a matter of food supply some 

 places being more infested with their 

 icsect prey than others. 



Once having located such a place dur- 

 ing the breeding season the finding of 

 the nests themselves is a matter of little 

 difficulty to the ardent collector who 

 has properly cultivated his "oologieal 

 eye," and I shall always remember with 

 keenest pleasure my first experience in 

 such a spot. A large hilly field'had be- 

 come overgrown with low, thick; scrub 



