THB OOLOGIST 



S3 



The Burrowing Owl. 



(Speotyto cunicularia hypoyaca.) 



One of the commonest sights 

 throughout California, is a pair of 

 these little Owls sitting side by side 

 at the entrance to their burrow, sun- 

 ning themselves, or perched on a fence 

 or low stump, blinking wisely at the 

 people passing by. 



The Owls hunt among the burrows 

 for young mice, gophers or squirrel, 

 these however, are doubtless their 

 choice tidbit. So far as I have been 

 able to observe, the "Prairie Dogs" 

 are in terror of the Owls, but the sud- 

 den appearance of a man causes both 

 enemies to pop suddenly down the 

 same hole with surprising quickness. 



Usually one may find the Owls sit- 

 ting at the doorway of their own bur- 

 row. That I mean by their own bur- 

 row may be stated that further down 

 into the interior of the hole is a rude- 

 ly made nest consisting of manure, 

 hair, leaves and a few feathers, which 

 may have been the home of some bad- 

 ger or prairie dog whose claim they 

 have "stolen." 



If, however, only the adult birds are 

 outside and there are eggs or young 

 in the nest, the result is that they 

 will straighten up and duck excitedly, 

 bending so low that their heads al- 

 most touch the ground. Then 

 straightening up again, they turn their 

 wise-looking heads slowly from side 

 to side, as if to see the effect, and duck 

 again. 



About the middle of March they be- 

 gin their nesting; laying one white 

 egg every other day untij there are 

 from six to eleven hidden in a dark 

 corner some ten feet down, running 

 under the outer coat of the earth. 



The Burrowing Owls are as cute as 

 any one of the owl family. They will 

 sit in pairs at the entrance of their 

 hole and talk in low, murmuring 

 tones. While flying over the meadows 

 and hills they are pleasing to the 

 sight of any bird lover. 



Last June, I had the pleasure of 



capturing one of these Owls. It how- 

 ever was a little female and I took it 

 home and there kept it in a large cage 

 a number of weeks, so that I might 

 study its peculiarities in captivity. 



I am glad to say that I have secured 

 some very interesting notes from just 

 observing this little own as he sat up- 

 on his perch eyeing me attentively. 

 Alfred Cookman. 



Mixed News. 



George Kamp of Denham, Massa- 

 chusetts, writes: 



"This past Spring I found half a 



hundred nests of the Ruffed Grouse, 

 all within twenty-five miles of Boston. 

 In all my years of study I have never 

 seen them so thick. I do not kill the 

 birds nor disturb their nests. (This 

 Is good news.) 



The Quail no doubt, are becoming 

 extinct in Massachusetts. I have found 

 a great many nests of them in past 

 years but have only seen one male 

 bird in the past three years during 

 the breeding season. (This is bad 

 news). 



The Woodcock in this section are 

 scarce in some places and abundant in 

 others. (This is mixed news). 



C. S. Sharp. 



We have recently had the pleasure 

 of examining a complete list of the 

 oological collection of C. S. Sharp, 

 of Escondido, California. This collec- 

 tion aggregates 410 species, and is cer- 

 tainly a splendid assortment, contain- 

 ing very many of the rarer specimens 

 of North American oology, including 

 such examples as Swallow-tailed Kite, 

 Kirtland's Warbler, and the like. 



Error. 



The appearance of the February 

 issue was somewhat marred by an in- 

 expressibly ludicrous error occasioned 

 by the printer transposing the Can- 

 vasback duck and Wood duck plates 

 appearing on pages 34 and 37. Lucki- 

 ly, however, the subjects of the illus- 

 trations were such that nobody having 

 any knowledge whatever of birds, 

 could have been misled. We should 

 have thought that even "a printer" 

 might have discerned the difference. 

 —Ed. 



