VOL. XII. NO. 5. 



ALBION, N. Y., MAY, 1895. 



Whole No. 115 



Rhoderiok Dhu. 



It is not of Scott's hero that I am 

 going to tell you, but a namesake which, 

 whether rightly nauied or not, once fill- 

 ed, a prominent niche in my life. I 

 made his acquaintance one damp day in 

 April, (the 22nd,) 1889. My brother 

 and I had been hunting all the morn- 

 ing, he after birds, I their eggs. It was 

 about eleven a.m., and we had tramped 

 nearly though the third piece of timber, 

 a low swampy tract bordering both sides 

 of Mill Creek, a small stream flowing 

 through the westei^n half of Monroe Co , 

 N.Y.,to a point near my hom*^, where it 

 joins Black Creek in its course to the 

 Genesee river. My brother had secured 

 no game, and I only one incomplete set 

 of the Crow. Needless tn say we were 

 both getting discouraged. The swamp 

 was nearly covered with water fi'.>m a 

 iew inches to several feet in depth as the 

 spring freshet had not sub>i(l(-il. We 

 "were keeping close to one edge and made 

 many trips out in the iK'lils to avoid 

 •ditches or runs as we called them which 

 had swelled to dimensions that made 

 fording impossible in many cases. It 

 seemed as if both of us s;iw the nest at 

 the same instant. Out in the middle of 

 the swamp stood a large elm, the ]arge^t 

 'Of them all and almost in the very top 

 was an imviense nest. Well, we don't 

 have eagles nests in these parts and it 

 was big to us. I know that some oolo- 

 gistscantell us of nests that would dwarf 

 this one but they can not find ihem in 

 my vicinity. Over the top stuck up 

 two little tufts of feathei's, I had seen 

 specimens of the Gt. Horned Owl be- 

 fore and I recognized the owner of those 

 two ear-tufts and only the "ologist who 

 remembers his first nest ot this large 

 Owl can guess how excited I was. 



Jumping from tussock to log and from 

 stump to stump we made our way 

 toward the tree. When about 200 ft., 

 from the nest Mrs. Owl left, much to 

 our chagrin, as we had hoped to secure 

 her, but 200 ft. away and 75 ft., high is 

 too far for such shot as we had so she 

 got ofJ all right. Now I had not been a 

 subscriber of the Ooi.ogist long at that 

 time and was a very "green" oologist, I 

 thought there were eggs in that nest. 

 Of course you experienced collectors 

 who get out your climbing irons in Feb- 

 ruary and take a circuit through the 

 haunts of this bird, gathering in your 

 annual fee as you go, will laugh at this. 

 Enough said; /can afford to now. I 

 had a poor pair of home-made climbers 

 and with these I started up to the nest, 

 my brother standing guard at the foot 

 of the tree with the hope that the Owl 

 would come back and he get a shot at 

 her. How I got up I don't know now. 

 Mr. P. M Silloways experience as 

 published in the February number of 

 the Oologist describes most of my diffi- 

 culties better than I can, but I had to 

 work ray way around three large crotch- 

 es to get to the nest Then I could 

 neither see nor reach over the edge. 

 It seemed an age before I worked my 

 way aroung on the lower side of that 

 limb and, finally, into the nest. Then 

 what a sight met my gaze. No eggs of 

 course, but, in the midst of balls of fur, 

 bones, etc.; the remains of rabbits, 

 squirrels and pole-cats, the scent of 

 which saluted my nose in a \&vy forward 

 and disagreeable way; sat a young Owl, 

 perhaps a week old, possibly two. I 

 could not carry hfm down with me and 

 I did not like to leave him behind. 

 Happy thought, directly under me the 

 water was several inches deep, so, shout- 

 ing to my brother to "take it out of the 

 water quick" I dropped the young bird 



