18 



THE OOlAXTiS'l 



venture upon an attack but would move 

 about uneasily from tree to tree, pro- 

 testing with a low " Who-o-o."' 



Up to the spring of '95 I had searched 

 many a time for a nest of the Great 

 Horned Owl but always without suc- 

 cess. From what I had read I was led 

 to believe that a hollow tree in not 

 much frequented timber was the proper 

 place for these birds to nest. Besides 

 there were traditions among the peo- 

 ple living in the "Timber" of the find- 

 ing of them there. I have spent whole 

 days and traveled over section after 

 section of timber pounding with an ax 

 on every likely looking tree but never 

 yet have found, one occupied. 



But on the 3d of March, '95, I found 

 my Urst nest and the spell was broken, 

 for four more were found the same 

 spring and tw^o, so far, this. On that 

 date I was passing through a small 

 grove of rather tall oaks not eighty 

 rods from a farm house. Chancing to 

 glance at an old Hawk's nest I noticed 

 a pair of 'horns" protruding from the 

 top of the nest and distinctly outlined 

 against the sky. A few raps on the 

 tree and Madam Owl was gone away 

 over the tree tops. 



It takes considerable "sand" and 

 muscle to shin it sixty feet up a tree on 

 a raw March day. But I did it and 

 was rewarded with a set of two nearly 

 fresh eggs On the 3lst of March 1 

 took another set of two from a nest 

 about a quarter of a mile from the first 

 and in another grove. This last like 

 the other was in an old Hawk's nest but 

 only about forty feet up and a much 

 easier tree to climb. Both these sets I 

 believe were laid by the same bird. 



On the Tth of March during a heavy 

 snow storm I frightened an Owl from 

 the deserted nest of a Cooper's Hawk, 

 not sixty rods from and in plain sight 

 of my home. I am yet undecided who 

 was the more surprised, the Owl or my- 

 self. There was one egg in the nest, 

 which I left, thinking she would return 



and I get a full set. But .she must have 

 remained away until there was too 

 much snow in the nest for comfort, and 

 then concluded to begin again, for the 

 next day the nest was covered with a 

 mound of suou- dut of which I took a 

 frozen egg. 



On the I2th of Apiil while looking 

 for Hawks' nests we foi i;d an Owl's in 

 the top of a tall lafswcod in a ravine. 

 From the hill vvheie we were we could 

 look down into the nef't which was oc- 

 cupied liy the mother bird and two 

 good sized jouug one,*. The old one 

 lay lazily on her side taking a sun bath 

 while the young ones crawled over and 

 around her, the whole reminding us of a 

 cat and a couple of young kittens. We 

 watched them for some time through a 

 glass until finally the old one becoming 

 alarmed at our protracted stay, Hew 

 away and the Owlets s-eitled down in 

 the nest and became quiet. 



This spring I spoiled the chance of 

 again seeing how Mrs. Owl rears her 

 famil\', by going to the plac^ on the 8th 

 of February and taking the two eggs 

 which she had already deposited in a 

 Hawk's nest about forty rods from the 

 nesting site of a yriar ago. 



My first set this spring was taken on 

 the 1st of February from an old squir- 

 rel's nest in the fork af an elm in an 

 acre or two of tiaber on the bottom 

 lands of Yellow river. Of the seven 

 nests which I have found not one was 

 in the "Timber" but all were in isolat- 

 ed groves and all were within eighty 

 rods of a farm house. Ail were in old 

 Hawks' ne scsexcept the tirst one found 

 this spring. 



The Great Horned Owl is not much 

 of a nest builder. The addition of a 

 few dry twigs and pieces of bark and a 

 few leaves pilfered from a squirrel's 

 nest, together with a few feathei-s from 

 the bird herself is all that is done. 



Usually the eggs are more or less 

 stained with blood from the birds' 

 claws and have bits of feathers and 



