THE OOLOGIST. 



As I peered anxiously into the cav- 

 ity, which seemed much larger and 

 rounder than I fancied would he con- 

 nected with the neat circular entrance, 

 I saw that there were eggs lying in the 

 bottom of the hollow. Was I indeed 

 about to secure a full set of eggs of this 

 rare species, about which I had read 

 with covetous eagerness in the "Man- 

 ual" and which the books declared was 

 only a casual straggler in California 

 and Arizona? One, two, — tears al- 

 most blinded my eyes as I realized that 

 the two, pearly white, small sub-spher- 

 ical eggs were an incomplete set. Why 

 had fate been so cruel to me, when 

 other collectors were always getting 

 sets of six and even seven? (I once 

 heard of a set of eight.) What should 

 I do? ]t would never do to leave this 

 desideratum in the exposed site, with 

 hundreds of children passing several 

 times daily; but to take an incomplete 

 set of so rare a species would be to de- 

 preciate their value, and would leave a 

 train of regrets which would tinge all 

 my future days with sadness whenever 

 I looked over my cological treasures. 



Something must be done, and done 

 quickly, for a group of children are 

 coming, and my actions would draw 

 their attention to the very thing I want- 

 ed them not to know. While rapidly 

 considering whether to take the incom- 

 plete set and blame fortune for the re- 

 sults, or to take the chances upon the 

 nest's being overlooked by the children, 

 even as I had overlooked it for years, 

 keeping my eyes glued upon the im- 

 maculate treasures in the brightening 

 cavity, I was surprised by the hand- 

 some little Owl's fluttering down and 

 striking me plump in the small of the 

 back, — why, 'tis nothing but the baby 

 planting his foot abruptly against my 

 spinal column, and I awake to find that 

 Saturday morning has arrived, bring- 

 ing a fine clear day for a tramp after 

 products of Bubo virginianus sub- 

 ■arcticus. 



Well, though no little Spotted Owl, 

 nor Elf Owl, or other desideratum so 

 valuable, allure me afield, I'm ofE for a 

 cruise to a grove five miles away. On 

 the preceding Monday evening, while 

 mousing around a haw thicket sur- 

 rounding two large cottonwoods, I had 

 detected an indistinct form aperch up- 

 on a low limb near the trunk of one of 

 the cottonwoods. Though I was seven- 

 ty-five rods away, as I circled the thick- 

 et there remained the same distance be- 

 tween the two prominences surmount- 

 ing the upper corners of the crouching 

 form, and I became aware that I was 

 being watched with the jealous eyes of 

 Master B. v. subarcticus. So starting 

 out about Saturday noon, I made my 

 way to the thicket. No Bubo was 

 about the place. However I made a 

 thorough search through the grove, in- 

 specting every old nest of Crow, Hawk 

 and even Magpie. I had not expected 

 to find the Owls nesting there, though, 

 for I had frequently inspected the 

 thicket and knew about what it oft'ered. 

 Continuing my way I faced a cutting 

 dash of snow pellets for nearly two 

 mile?, until 1 reached a grove of cotton- 

 woods where I suspected the Bubos 

 were located for their second attempt 

 at nidification. This was on April 13th; 

 I had despoiled the same pair of three 

 eggs on March 16th. 



Before I entered the grove, I was in- 

 formed that the Bubos were there 

 domiciled and astir by a small colony 

 of Crows which inhabited the place. 

 Sure enough, I had scarcely stepped 

 among the bare trees when I flushed 

 the male Owl, and sent him flapping 

 away at the head of a dozen deriding 

 Crows. It happened that he alighted 

 near the female, who immediately took 

 wing, drawing after her the parcel of 

 Crows. The male thereafter remained 

 upon this perch, giving utterance oc- 

 casionally to a deep- voiced but subdued 

 hooting. As the female was thus 

 abroad, it was necessary for me to 



