May, 1881.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



21 



Collectors. — Mr. Robert Ridgway of 

 the Smithsonian and Mr. Fred. T. Jencks 

 of Providence, R. I., left Washington for 

 Wheatland, Indiana, (the home of the Ridg- 

 way's) April 13th, on a collecting trip which 

 is expected to continue for two months. 

 Mr. Jencks has already sent us notes of the 

 trip and promises to continue them for the 

 benefit of our readers. They will appear 

 in our next number. 



Northwestern Screech Owl. 

 The habits of Scops asio Kennicotti^iowndi 

 on the northwest coast where it replaces 

 S. asio maccalli seem to be essentially 

 tlie same as those of its eastern and south- 

 ern relatives, the Scops asio and asio mac- 

 calli. It is scarcely ever seen in the daytime, 

 and if not secluded in the hollow of a tree, 

 it is only found in the densest and darkest 

 of the thickets generally about creek bot- 

 toms. It does not appear«to come about 

 houses. This form averages considerably 

 larger than asio and maccalli, and seems to 

 be moderately common in this vicinity, 

 while a hundred miles to the eastward about 

 Fort Lapwai, Idaho, it appears not to be 

 found. At any rate, I failed to notice it 

 there during three years collecting. I ob- 

 tained four specimens here during the past 

 winter, two of each sex. The measurement 

 of a female shot November 7th, 1880, is as 

 follows, wing 7.50, tail 4.25, tarsus 1.50, 

 culmen 0.75, iris yellow, bill and claws pale 

 horn color. The second female was larger 

 still, the wing being 7.85. The males are 

 a trifle smaller. A set of eggs taken to-day 

 April 7th, four in number, measure as fol- 

 lows, 1.47x1.28, 1.43xl.2Q, 1.45x1.30 and 

 1.46x1.30. These were found in a hole in 

 a good sized Cottonwood tree about twen- 

 ty-five feet from the ground. The cavity 

 was about sixteen inches deep. There was 

 no nest, the eggs lying on decayed bits of 

 wood and a few dead leaves ; no feathers. 

 The parent, presumably the female, was on 

 the nest and would not leave the hole, 

 where I allowed her to remain while re- 

 moving the eggs. The first time I exam- 



ined the cavity it contained a single egg 

 and a dead mouse. This was March 29th. 

 The eggs of course are white and globular 

 like most Owl's eggs. A pair of 



Spakrow Hawks, Tinnunculus sparver- 

 ious^ have taken possession of a hole only 

 about two feet above the one occupied by 

 the owls, and seem to live in harmony with 

 the latter. The call notes of Kennicotti's 

 owl appears to me to be the same as that 

 of the eastern Screech Owl, and I heard it 

 nightly during the month of March. Since 

 the first egg has been deposited the birds 

 have remained silent. — Chas. Bendire, Fort 

 Walla Walla, Washington Territory. 



Bird Notes from Virginia. 



"That Woodcock." The reading of Mr. 

 Merrill's article on "that woodcock" re- 

 minded me of a similar case which hap- 

 pened some years ago. While sitting in 

 the house my attention was attracted by 

 loud cries of distress from a Woodpecker. 

 I seized my gun and stepped into the yard 

 just in time to witness the last struggle of 

 the Woodpecker in the talons of a Cooper 

 Hawk, which was soon my prize. When I 

 picked the Hawk up I was surprised at his 

 emaciated condition, but I soon discovered 

 ample cause in a large splinter as thick as 

 my finger and six inches long, through the 

 fleshy part of the wing near the shoulder. 

 The splinter was firmly imbedded and the 

 wound healed over. 



The Summer Red Bird, {Pyranga Aesti- 

 va) is much more rare here. In all my ex- 

 perience I have found but one nest, and 

 this also was on the depressed bough of a 

 hickory. A beautiful nest carefully and 

 artistically woven of fine wiry grass, and 

 strips of bark, and well lined with softer 

 material. The eggs (3) much resembled 

 those of the Pyranga rubra^ but of a high- 

 er and cleaner tint. It contained one or 

 two eggs of the Cow Bird. In short in 

 this section there seems to be few small 

 birds, whose nests are not occasionally 

 utilized by the cow-bird for its parasitic 

 brood. 



