THE OOLOGIST. 



31 



but alas those eggs are no longer 

 among existing things, they have passed 

 into that great oblivion of demolished 

 •oological specimens from which they 

 never will nor never can return. 



Harry C. Lillie, 

 Santa Barbara, Cala. 



Bald and GoldeD Eagles in Iowa. 



Bluffton is a village about 12 miles 

 from Decorah. As its name indicates, 

 there are a number of high bluffs near 

 the village. Both Golden and Bald 

 Eagles had been seen a number of times 

 by different parties. At last Chas. 

 Jackson made up his mind that there 

 were eagles nesting there, he began to 

 look and, after a time, he found their 

 nest on Silver Creek, about 5 miles 

 from Bluffton, but secured no eggs, a s 

 it was then winter. 



He then set a trap and captured first 

 a Golden Eagle, (a very large one) 

 then, setting it again, he captured a 

 Bald Eagle measuring 8 ft. from tip to 

 tip. 



That there are many eagles there is 

 no doubt. A Mr. Neill, the miller, has 

 told me that he frequently seen them 

 from his mill. 



This gentleman also saw one Golden 

 and one Bald Eagle on his way home 

 from Bluffton to Decorah last Friday. 



I shall investigate the matter myself 

 in the spring as I am going up there. 

 A. V. Thomson, 

 Decorah, la 



A Curious Pair of Swallows- 



A pair of swallows built their nest 

 in the highest part of our barn; when 

 all the other swallows left I still noticed 

 this pair of swallows flying about catch- 

 ing flies and feeding their young. Now 

 last week, the 18th of Nov., I missed the 

 swallows, and in order to clean the 

 barn I took a stick and poked the old 

 nests down. Now here I found two (2) 

 young swallows so I picked them up 



and examined them and noticed tha 

 neither had wings nor legs — there wa 

 no signs of either. I pulled the feathers 

 away to see, but the skin was just as 

 smooth there as on the breast. 



I would like to hear of any of the 

 readers if they ever run across a bird 

 like these two. 



V. LlNSENBARTH, 



Los Angeles, Cala. 



Nesting of Spinus pinus in the North-west. 



Although the Pine Siskin is listed in 

 most of the northern localities as com- 

 mon or perhaps abundant, there has 

 been but little said about the nesting 

 habits. 



In this section it begins; to carry 

 building material about the 15th or 

 latter part of April and fresh eggs ma}' 

 be found as early as May 1st. 



It generally nests in fir trees, but 

 nests have been found in both maple 

 and oak trees. They are placed from 

 eight to twenty-five feet from the 

 ground. 



A set of three eggs before me was 

 taken May 7, 1889. The nest was 

 placed on the end of a fir bough, eight 

 feet up, and composed of fir twigs and 

 grass, and lined with hair. The eggs 

 are pale greenish-blue in color, sparing 

 ly spotted near the larger end with red- 

 dish-brown and pale lilac, and average 

 .63 x .49 in size. 



Three eggs seem to be the standard 

 number in a set here, for out of several 

 taken, (among which two sets were in- 

 cubated) none of them contained over 

 three eggs. 



Clyde L. Keller, 

 Salem, Oregon. 



Early Nesting of Bubo Virginianus. 



H. E. Hershey, of Nebraska City, 

 Neb., thinks he is entitled to a medal 

 for taking a set of two eggs of the Gt. 

 Horned Owl, on Jan 17th, but as C. B. 

 Vandycook reports a set of three on 

 Jan. 10th, "ten days along," we hardly 

 think it would be fair to send him one. 



