THE OOLOGIST 



224 



a small tree and leaning it again the 

 bank I was able to get to the nest. 

 My data reads: Nest in hole in bank, 

 ten feet up, hole two feet deep, 

 eggs in slight depression, no lining, 

 incubation advanced. This was the 

 first set of this species I had ever 

 collected and I certainly was proud 

 of the find. 



April 9, 1910, Mr. Love and I visit- 

 ed the site of the two nests found in 

 1909. From the place where the nest 

 had been deserted, we flushed a fe- 

 male and he secured his first set of 

 Western Horneds. The three half in- 

 cubated eggs were lying in the nest, 

 which contained no lining, these eggs 

 looked very much like the single 

 that had been there the previous 

 year. 



April 24, just one month after se- 

 curing the set of four, I was near 

 the bank again and was going to look 

 in the hole to see if the usual pair 

 of Barn Owls had returned, imagine 

 my surprise when I flushed a female 

 Western Horned and found a set of 

 two eggs. The nest was just the 

 same as that containing four, but the 

 eggs were not quite so large, incu- 

 bation was quite advanced. 



I believe both of these sets were 

 laid by the same female, but her ac- 

 tions certainly were not the same as 

 the female of nest number one in 

 1909, who deserted her nest and egg. 

 So I am at a loss to know which is 

 the rule and which is the exception. 

 Who can tell me? 



March 15, 1911, I was hunting near 

 the same bank, and was greeted with 

 another surprise. Just for curiosity 

 I climbed the tree to look into the 

 hole and there was another Horned 

 Owl, she did not leave the nest until 

 I had secured a pole and climbed al- 

 most to the nest. The hole smelled 

 very strongly of skunk, and the four 

 half incubated eggs were smaller 



than either of the previous sets. 

 While at the nest the female flew to 

 the tree near and sat snapping her 

 mandibles. My note book reads: 

 "Nest of .T75A in clay bank, nest hole 

 ten feet up and three feet deep, 

 lined with a few feathers. This is 

 the third set from the nest." 



This concludes my experiences 

 with the Western Horned Owls here. 

 Next spring I will try to secure a 

 photo of the nesting sites I have told 

 about, and will try to tell more about 

 their habits. 



Ray Wolfe. 

 Oberlin, Kan. 



Winter Bird Life at Mosquito 

 Inlet, Fla. 



I passed two weeks in the last of 

 December at Coronado, a small vil- 

 lage, situated about three miles 

 south of the Mosquito Inlet. I spent 

 much of my time about this inlet 

 and its adjacent waters. Extending 

 northward is the Halifax river, and 

 southward the Indian River, both 

 separated from the ocean by a long, 

 narrow elevation, varying from four 

 hundred yards to a mile in width. 

 This island formation is densely cov- 

 ered with palmetto scrub with occa- 

 sional stretches of pine, cedar and 

 oak forests. Coronado is located in 

 one of these wooded districts. The 

 river between this island and the 

 mainland is no where under a mile 

 in width., and at mosquito lagoon, 

 about forty miles south, it broadens 

 out into what resembles a large lake. 

 The main channel near Mosquito In- 

 let is about one hundred rods wide. 

 The remaining area is a vast salt 

 marsh, through which there wind 

 multitudes of creeks. At low tides 

 long and broad sandbars, large mud- 

 flats and extensive oyster banks are 

 uncovered. 



