THE OOLOGIST. 



186 



or give chase to a ground squirrel with 

 lightning rapidity. 



At one of the parks here, a Snowy 

 Owl, Great Horned Owl, Swainson's 

 Hawk and Turkey Buzzai'd are kept 

 in confinement. The Snowy Owl is no 

 longer snowy from coming in contact 

 with his dirty cage, but there is enough 

 of his original coat to identify him. 

 The Buzzard has been in captivity for a 

 number of years, but as far as my ob- 

 servations go, it XDi'oves rather uninter- 

 esting, being somewhat sluggish. 



Mourning Doves can be kept in a 

 Pigeon loft and they will soon breed in 

 confinement. Shrikes make exceeding- 

 ly interesting pets, and are easily rear- 

 ed, staying around the house, and keep- 

 ing the premises free from mice. 



Cedarbirds, Tanagers, Indigo Bunt- 

 ings, Rose-breasted and Cardinal Gros- 

 beaks, Orioles, and Sparrows of many 

 kinds are easily raised, and are objects 

 of beauty, but for my part, I dislike to 

 confine these beautiful creatures in a 

 cage for my own selfish gratification. 

 Unless I can give a pet perfect freedom, 

 I should much rather see it wild. These 

 beautiful feathered gems, so agile, so 

 happy and gay in their native element, 

 seem to lose their altractiveness, and 

 assume an air of melancholy when 

 placed behind the bars. 



W. E. LouCKS, 

 Peoria, Ills. 



Some Notes on Two California Birds. 



Mex. Horned Lakk, Octocoris alpestris 

 chrysolaerna. 



As I have never seen anything writ- 

 ten about this species I thought that 

 perhaps my experience would be of in- 

 terest to the readers of your valuable 

 paper. 



My first introduction to this bird oc- 

 curred several years ago, when I was a 

 little shaver, some nine or ten years of 

 age. 



Of course I had the usual collection 

 of rare and valuable eggs that all small 

 boys have, made up of a few cracked 

 and bi'oken singles, which I will not 

 name. One year, I think it was in the 

 later part of May, I was picking peas 

 and I noticed a number of little birds 

 that I took to be some species of spar- 

 row, who seemed to be perfectly at 

 home in. the pea field. 



They would fly away up in the air, 

 uttering at the same time a few notes. 

 I could hardly call them a song, which 

 are very well expressed in the follow- 

 ing: Up, tip, tip, tip, — tip, tip — tippy, 

 tippy, tippy. I began at once to look 

 for eggs and it was not long before I 

 flushed a little bird from the nest, which 

 was built under a pea row, in a slight 

 depression in the ground. It was made 

 of straw and dry grass and contained 

 four of the prettiest eggs I thought 1 

 had ever seen. 



Several years afterward, after I had 

 started to collect eggs scientifically, I 

 tried to get these eggs identified and 

 was told they were probably the eggs 

 of the Ruddy Horned Lark. I tried to 

 get more sets of eggs or birds to make 

 sure of the identity of this species, but 

 could not find either until last year. 



On the 18th of June, 1894, while cross- 

 ing a carrot patch, a bird was flushed 

 from her nest under one of the carrot 

 rows. It was built in a depression, in 

 the ground and contained four fresh 

 eggs. 



The female bird was shot as she left 

 the nest and positively identified as a 

 Mexican Horned Lark. 



The ground color of these eggs is of a 

 pale olive and they are heavily spotted 

 with drab, which is thicker at the larger 

 end. 



On the 14th of June I returned to the 

 carrot patch and a set of .three slightly 

 incubated eggs was taken. 



This bird also was flushed from the 

 nest, which was composed entirely of 

 dry grass, as was the preceding nest. 



