THE 
A Strange Experience. 
On November 6th, when some 
friends and myself were on an outing 
we noticed from the top of a hill, a 
pair of birds flying low over a very 
thick wood of about five acres in ex- 
tent. After watching them through 
our field glasses we decided on their 
being either Red-tailed or Marsh 
Hawks, as they wer of about the same 
size, and had onspjcs ously white 
breasts. 
ay 
We decided to ee matters 
more thoroughly so after stationing 
one of our party there to watch their 
movements we advanced upon the 
thicket. As we approached, we saw 
that it was impossible to force our 
way through the thick undergrowth 
but as there were several paths near 
by we took the nearest and soon 
reached the middle of the wood. When 
suddenly from fifteen feet ahead of 
us, just where the path turned, there 
shot across our path, a dark object 
about as large as a good sized hawk. 
It flew on the average about four or 
five feet from the ground and went 
smashing into low branches and bush- 
es in a very unhawklike manner, 
which made us suspect they were 
owls. 
Suddenly from all over the wood 
there was a great commotion, as oth- 
er birds went crashing into the under- 
bush. We ran on down the path to 
try to get a glimpse of them, but the 
birds dashed off just a fraction of a 
second too quick for us to identify 
them. 
Our friend who had been stationed 
on the hill said that at least twenty 
birds rose a little above the trees, 
and after flying slowly for a short dis- 
tance settled down again. 
To us in the center of the wood, it 
seemed as if there were many times 
that number. 
Now all of you wise ones, scratch 
your heads and get down your old 
note-books and answer the following 
questions: What were they? Were 
they owls? If so, what kind? Have 
you ever had similar experiences? And 
let me hear from you in the next issue 
of THE OOLOGIST. 
K. H. ROCKEY. 
OOLOGIST 35 
=e Sing 
Se a Bie 
« ae “eS 
The Cuban Pigmy Owl, 
Y(Glauciduni siju) L. 7.2 in., W. 3.8 
~ 
in., t. 3.5 in. 
Upper parts fuscous, finely spotted 
and streaked with white on the head; 
bank of light rufous across back of 
neck; back barred with white; tail 
barred with white tinged with rufous. 
Under parts white, heavily barred and 
streaked with fuscous and rufous; feet 
and iris yellow; legs feathered to base 
of toes. 
This is the smallest and most com- 
mon of our three owls. It is very tame 
and most generally permits of close 
inspection all the time keeping up a 
nervous twitching of its tail, wren 
fashion, sometimes holding it erect. 
It feeds some during the day and flies 
well in the brightest light. Its food 
according to my observations, consists 
largely of grasshoppers and chamel- 
eons. All the birds seem to dislike 
this owl very much, and make the fam- 
iliar fuss when one is near, even 
though it is so small. 
ax 4 Sm 
A, C. Read. 
Se eee 
Turkey Vulture in Pennsylvania. 
I have a very nice adult male vulture 
in my collection that was taken at 
Warren, Pennsylvania, and don’t be- 
lieve I ever recorded it in any bird 
magazine, 
Warren County is entirely out of 
their range and I never saw one here 
myself. My specimen was captured 
in late July by a farmer living about 
nine miles from here. A calf had died 
and was taken off some distance and 
left lay a day or so. On going to bury 
it, the farmer saw four vultures feed- 
ing on the carcass, He went back, and 
returning with a steel trap, set it at 
the body. The next day he found a 
fine old male buzzard fast. 
It was taken alive and kept for sev- 
eral weeks in a large shed where it 
was viewed by everyone in the vicin- 
ity and was looked upon as a curiosity. 
I finally heard of the catch and se- 
cured it for my collection. 
R. B. Simpson. 
