74 



THE OOLOGIST. 



study them. A bird of marvelous in- 

 telligence and barring his mania for 

 petty larceny makes a most entertaining 

 and interesting pet; some authorities 

 even go so far as to say that he may be 

 taught to talk, but my experience with 

 them does not carry that idea out to 

 any greater extent than to say AM AM. 



Crows are very tenacious of life and 

 there is said to be an old, male in the 

 London Zoo uoav about 100 years old. 



Just now they are at their thickest 

 around Omaha and every morning and 

 evening great flocks can be seen flying 

 over the city. 



In the evening their flight is from the 

 south or southwest towards Cut-off 

 Lake where they pass the night and scat- 

 tering out again at day-break towards 

 the south and southwest. For years 

 and years the birds have roosted on the 

 low willows east and north of Omaha 

 and when the sable host have congre- 

 gated in the evening, the] uproar from 

 the numerous tongues is so loud you 

 can not hear yourself think and the 

 spectacle is a sight of a lifetime. 



I could go on like this for a day but 

 our Friend Lattin has not the room nor 

 I the time for it. 



ISADOE A. TKOSTLER, 



Omaha, Neb. 



A Peculiar Bird- 



On February second I went 

 hunting on the Blue River for Birds. 

 One of the students w r ent along with 

 me as I was unacquainted with the re- 

 gion. For two or three miles we scar-' 

 cely saw anything but Snowbirds and 

 Tree Sparrows. We then came to a 

 bend in the river which was well grown 

 up with timber, and here? we found 

 birds, plenty of specimens if not spec- 

 ies. A number of specimens were sec- 

 ured among- which was a Spinus tristis 

 with a crossed bill. Another was sec- 

 ured which had a normal bill. The 

 winter plumages being the same. I de- 



termined the sex by dissection. The 

 first was a female the other a male. 

 The bird is normal in all respects ex- 

 cept the bill. The normal bill has the 

 commissure almost straight, curving 

 downward toward the tip; in the cross- 

 billed specimens, both mandibles are 

 curved, the upper a little the more. 

 The upper mandible is crossed to the 

 right, which is true of the three or four 

 Crossbills [Loxia curviros) that I 

 have. I wonder if the same bird can 

 cross them either way? Looked at 

 from above, it seems that the upper 

 mandible were merely bent to one side 

 as the culmen lies in a straight line; 

 but viewed from the side, the mandibles 

 coincide past the ramus, but from there 

 on they cross and carve till the tip of 

 the upper is .15 of an inch lower than 

 that of the lower. Has any one else 

 found a similiar bird? 



Cloud Butter, 

 Doane College, Crete, Neb. 



Early Nesting of the Great Horned Owl. 



Thinking that it might be of some 

 interest to the readers of the Oolo- 

 gist to learn of some early finds, Wal- 

 ter Truitt and myself have decided to 

 give a short sketch of our January's col- 

 lecting Great Horned Owls eggs. 



The tw T enty-third of January we went 

 to the woods to seek locations in which 

 we might expect soon to find nests. 

 Hawks of various species were noted, 

 and numerous nests were located. 



The sight of an occasional Great 

 Horned Owl, as it silently left its roost 

 on some neighboring tree and hurriedly 

 fled to some hidden retreat, urged us 

 on. Finally we noticed one of these 

 birds fly away from an elm in a manner 

 which attracted particular attention. 

 Investigation revealed some feathers 

 around a cavity in the elm. Curiosity 

 impelled us to climb up the tree to gain 

 a closer view. Truitt, who was first to 

 put on his climbers, began to ascend, 



