10 



THE OOLOGIST. 



and made a slip noose and put it 

 around its neck and pulled it as tight as 

 we could. This was about 9 o'clock a. 

 m., and we carried it till 7 p. m, in the 

 same way. On arriving home we took 

 off the strap and in about 5 minutes it 

 jumped up and began to run along the 

 ground. We put a small chain and strap 

 on one of his legs and put it out where 

 the grain was kept. He made himself 

 fat on mice for about three weeks, 

 when we removed him to the other 

 boy's home. He lived till Thanksgiv- 

 ing and then died. I skinned him and 

 have him mounted. It is a fine speci- 

 men. According to some accounts this 

 owl must have had a dozen lives, more 

 or less. I have collected a number of 

 eggs in this locality. 



Joel. A. Harrington, 

 Butte, Montana. 



Western Horned Owl. 

 (Bubo virginianus subarcticus.) 



This large owl is very abundant in 

 this vicinity. It nearly resembles Bu- 

 bo virginianus in color except that it is 

 of a somewhat lighter shade, and in 

 size is about the same. Catowl is the 

 term applied to this owl in this vicinity 

 as is also Chicken Owl, probably the 

 latter from its frequent visits to hen 

 roosts. A great many are shot by the 

 farmer while on the raids, and of course 

 thrown away. I know of no less than 

 twelve shot the past week, but heard of 

 it too late to secure or save only a few 

 from being thrown away. The Owls 

 seem very domestic (?) here, coming 

 and alighting on the roof of my house 

 in the center of the village. On Nov. 

 28th a large Owl was seized with one of 

 the domestic (?) ideas and suddenly 

 dropped on my roof with such force 

 and noise that it awoke me, and on go- 

 ing out I saw him plainly, walking to 

 and fro over the shingles, surveying 

 the back yard, probably with an idea of 

 chickens, but just then he spied me 



and flew, but not far, for he soon lit on 

 terra firma, by a charge of No. 8 shot 

 from my gun. This specimen measured 

 26 in. in length and 62 alar spred. 



This Owl breeds as I am told only a 

 short distance from this place in a deep 

 fir grove, as nests were found there 

 last spring. One Feb. 20, 1890, while 

 out nesting near Salem. Or., I accident- 

 ly found a nest of this bird in a high 

 slim fir containing two eggs. Meas- 

 urements as follows : 2.24 x 1.60 and 

 2.20 x 1.80, and of a dirty white color, 

 with incubation slightly advanced. 

 Nest made of coarse sticks and lined 

 with green fir twigs about 60 feet from 

 the ground. 



A. G. Prill, M. D. 

 Sweet Home, Or. 



Albino Eggs- 



I had heard a great deal about Albino 

 eggs and so was on the look out for 

 them. I pounded every stump and 

 climbed every apple-tree that had a 

 Woodpecker's hole in it, in hopes of 

 finding a set of white eggs of the Blue- 

 bird. 



A friend of mine found a Bluebird's 

 nest with two white eggs in it and left 

 them in order to get a full set. On return- 

 ing the third day he found the nest de- 

 stroyed and the eggs broken. I kept 

 close watch in those woods but the pair 

 did not nest again. 



The next year I was more successful. 

 On the first day of June while working 

 near the woods I noticed a pair of Blue- 

 birds making a great fuss near an old 

 stump about three feet high- I went 

 and looked into a hole in the top of the 

 stump and there was a nest with five 

 white eggs in it. 



Some writer in speaking of finding a 

 s et of white eggs, says the female bird 

 was very dark blue hardly distinguish- 

 able from the male. Remembering 

 this I caught the female on the nest 

 and examined her very closely; she was 



