THE OOLOGIST. 



9 



Tragi6"lTeaffi"of a'Pierd" Sparrow. 



About the middle of' -May, 1888, 

 whilst -walking through a cedar thicket 

 looking about for bii'ds' nests, my at- 

 tention was attracted' by a small nest in 

 a 1 dwarf cedar. On closer examination 

 it proved to be that of a Field Sparrow 

 ( Spizclia pisettn) containing three eggs. 

 Just as I was about to remove them I 

 noticed a bird, doubtless one of the 

 parents, hanging from the edge of the 

 nest by a piece of horse hair about 

 eight inches long. The bird was stone 

 dead and appeared to have been so 

 several hours. As the hair seemed to 

 be part of the lining of the nest prob- 

 ably the bird whilst setting had in some 

 way entangled its head in it, and in 

 its efforts to breakaway been strangled. 

 Although I remained for some time in 

 the neighborhood the mate did not put 

 in an appearance, possibly being 

 ignorant of the accident. I regret very 

 much that I was not able to dissect the 

 dead bird in order to determined its 

 sex. 



J. H.P., Jr., 

 Balto., Md. 



Florida Red Shouldered Hawk. 



(Buteo lineatus Alleiii.) 



This is the most common hawk in the 

 vicinity, being seen on almost any 

 bright day sailing high up in the sky. 



Its flight is even and graceful and 

 rh T als that of the Vultures. 



The nest of this species is a large 

 bulky affair composed of sticks large 

 and small. It is generally lined with 

 leaves, generally green, and moss from 

 the same tree in which it is placed. 

 Sometimes a few feathers from the 

 breast of the parent are placed in it. 



It is generally placed in the large 

 forks of a pinoak from 25 to 50 feet 

 from the grouud. 



The number of eggs laid ranges from 

 2 to 4. The latter being the more 

 frequent number. 



The ground CrjlOT and markings of 

 the' eggs ' vary a great ileal. On some 

 the eggs have a ground color of white 

 or- ci'e'amy white Spotted and blotched 

 with rontons brown, while in others 

 the ground color and markings are so 

 confused as to be indistinguishable. 

 Some others' are nearly white with the 

 brown spots on them Very small. 



They nest in the dense bottom land 

 bordering the streams. 



The date being from the last of Feb- 

 ruary to the last of ApriF 



I found one set of partly incubate: 1 

 eggs on March loth, while on April 

 loth I found a set of fresh eggs. 



Like all Other birds of this 'family it 

 is a bird of prey, and many a poor 

 chicken is sacrificed to satisfy his hun 

 ger and that of his little ones. They 

 are very affectionate parents and keep 

 their young plentifully supplied with 

 food. They also protect them in time 

 of danger. • 



Knox, Lee Co., Tex. 



An Owl's Tenacity to Life. 



On September 7th. I and two com- 

 panions were hunting in the mountains, 

 about 8 miles from this city, in some 

 thick timber. One of my companions 

 had a 22-cal. rifle with him. I saw a 

 Great Horned Owl in a big pine tree 

 near by. I took the rifle and without 

 drawing a bead on it I pulled the trig- 

 ger. I was awarded by seeing the Owl 

 fall. The dog ran to it but the owl 

 stood him off by getting under a few 

 twigs of a fallen tree. When we got 

 down to where the Owl was we found 

 the bullet had broken its wing. As I 

 wanted to mount it, I tried to kill it by 

 driving nails into its brain. This plan 

 not being able to kill him, my compan- 

 ion shot it in the head and another shot 

 in the breast. This not making any 

 difference we concluded to choke it to 

 death. We could have, killed it by cut- 

 ting its throat but this would have got 

 blood on its plumage so we took a strap 



