2G 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 6-No. 4. 



which certainly gave grounds on which to 

 base a supjiosition of their nesting. June 

 7th, 1879, while collecting, I rapped on an 

 Ash tree having a decayed tojD in which 

 were some Woodpecker's holes, and Avas 

 snrjirised to see a male Yellow-belly issue 

 from one of them. On climbing up I could 

 distinctly hear the hissing noise made by 

 the young birds in their nest. I left it un- 

 disturbed being somewhat disappointed in 

 failing to i:)rocure a set of eggs, biding my 

 time, however, in hopes that the pair of 

 birds might use it the ensmng spring. On 

 May 25th, 1880, I visited the place again 

 and on pounding the tree saw a Yellow, 

 bellied Woodpecker fly from the old nest- 

 ing place, so climbing up and cutting it 

 out, I foiuid two eggs perfectly fresh. 

 This was undoubtedly not the number of 

 eggs the female would have laid, had she 

 been undisturbed. June IGth, following, 

 thought I would examine the tree again, as 

 I had some time observed that when a 

 Woodpecker has a set of eggs taken from 

 its nest that it will simply deepen the hole 

 and lay again. This proved to be the case 

 in this instance, for the hole had been 

 deepen(>d some three inches, and on the 

 soft chips at the bottom hij four eggs 

 slightly incubated. They are immaculate, 

 as are all Woodpeckers' eggs, and average 

 about .87 inch by .70 inch. The original 

 hole was about 20 feet from the ground, 

 and probably 8 inches deep. Entrance 

 was so small that th^ birds on going in or 

 coming out would sometimes have to wig- 

 gle considerably before passing through. 

 The tree was in a swamjjy place. 



This is the first instance of which I have 

 heard of the eggs of this bird being found 

 in Central New York. It undoubtedly 

 breeds sparingly, but its nest seems to be 

 very hard to discover, on account of the 

 few individuals remaining to breed. 



I would be pleased to know of any other 

 occurrence of their nesting in this section. 

 S. F. Rathburn, Auburn, N. Y. 



Ask your friends to subscribe for tliis 

 magazine, and thereby help the cause. 



Bubo Virginianus. 



ITS NKSTING H.\BITS, ETC. 



In an earlier copy of the Oologist, (See 

 Vol. 5, No. 7, page 49,) is given an account 

 of the nesting of a pair of Great Horned 

 Owls. As I have this year, (1881) taken 

 eggs from the nest of the pair of birds 

 above referred to, I will continue the ac- 

 count. The nest which I foimd April 6th, 

 1880, then contained two young birds. 

 Being even then too late for eggs, I this 

 year ascended to the nest on Mircli 11th, 

 but found it deserted and badly weath- 

 er beaten. There was then about one 

 foot of snow on the , ground and snow- 

 ing hard. A short distance off in the next 

 grove the same jjair of birds had built a 

 new nest for themselves in the tojo of a pine 

 tree, over sixty feet from the ground, and 

 not a limb on the tree beneath fifteen feet 

 from the nest. After a veiy laborious 

 climb (I had not my climbing irons with 

 me) I looked over the edge of the nest and 

 was very mucli surprised to see four eggs 

 therein. The number laid by this bird is 

 two and very rarely three. This mystery 

 however was solved after a little study, as 

 follows. Two of the eggs were in the 

 middle of the nest, and sunk about two 

 thirds their depth into the lining, and were 

 much discolored from being in contact 

 with the wet moss and cedar bark. When 

 blowing them they showed about seven 

 days incubation, but were badly addled. 

 As the bird had flown from the nest while 

 I was imder the tree, this might seem 

 strange. The other two eggs were a trifle 

 smaller, but quite free from any stains, 

 and were quite fresh. From the position 

 of the eggs in the nest, and the condition 

 of their contents I came to the following 

 conclusion : That the first two eggs were 

 laid on one of the last days of February, 

 and after about one week's incubation, 

 were wet or frozen while the adult birds 

 were from the nest, and therefore spoiled 

 and were deserted, but rather than give up 

 the nest, the birds had made an attempt to 

 cover these and had laid another set in 



