26 



THE OOL/OGIST 



top of the Hemlock tree, she hooted 

 several times and stayed about in 

 close by trees, occasionally snapping 

 her mandibles, her feathers were 

 slightly raised, which gave her the ap- 

 pearance of an unusually large bird, 

 but the eggs appeared rather small, 

 as I compared them in my mind with 

 those I have in my cabinet. They rest- 

 ed on a thick bed of dry leaves at 

 the bottom of a cavity of about a foot 

 in diameter by four feet deep. 



I hope that some others who have 

 had more experience in taking sets 

 of owls' eggs will tell us something 

 about their trips. 



The Eagles and Herons of Oneida 

 Lake. 



Fifteen miles north of my home 

 town (Syracuse, N. Y.) on the north 

 shore of Oneida Lake, is a large wood- 

 ed swamp, caused by overflow from 

 the lake. For many years this swamp 

 has been a nesting place for numbers 

 of Great Blue Herons, and a pair of 

 Bald Eagles, have nested there also 

 for a number of years. 



Having heard of this herony from a 

 local bird student, a Mr. Eames, my 

 father, a naturalist friend of his, and 

 myself determined to visit the swamp. 

 and see the home life of the Eagles 

 and Herons. 



So, on the morning of June 7, 1909, 

 we three, Mr. Eames, and a friend of 

 his, Mr. Pasons, who was to be the 

 climber of the party, took a trolley to 

 the point across the lake from the 

 swamp occupied by the Herons. Here 

 we rented a launch, and two flat- 

 bottomed row-boats and set off across 

 the lake. After about a thirty minute 

 run we reached the opposite shore and 

 anchored the launch a couple of hun- 

 dred feet from the land. Then we 

 got into the row-boats and began to 

 make our way over the logs and 

 through the brush and reeds of the 

 flooded woods. 



After an hour of this strenuous work 

 the Eagle's nest came into view, a 

 great mass of sticks and grass, about 

 sixty feet up in a dead Ash tree. As 

 we drew near, the mother bird flew off 

 the nest and circled around it, scream- 

 ing at the top of her lungs. When we 

 reached the foot of the tree, the climb- 

 er put on his climbing irons, and tak- 

 ing a long rope and a bag, in which to 

 lower the young birds, started to 

 climb to the nest. As he drew near, 

 the female Eagle became very excited 

 and flew around him, uttering pierc- 

 ing shrieks, but she soon flew away. 

 When he reached the nest, he found 

 it occupied by three young Eagles and 

 the remains of several fish. Mr. Par- 

 sons, the climber, caught the Eaglets, 

 and putting them in the bag, lowered 

 them, by means of the rope, into one 

 of the boats at the foot of the tree. 

 They were queer, ungainly looking 

 fellows. Evidently they had been 

 hatched at different times, for they 

 varied greatly in size, the smallest be- 

 ing about the size of a small hen, and 

 completely covered with down; while 

 the largest was about as large as very 

 large rooster, and had most of his 

 wing feathers. They were not old 

 enough to stand on their feet, but were 

 very active with their large curved 

 beaks and immense claws. We set 

 them on a log and although the light 

 was very bad we succeeded in getting 

 some pictures of them. 



While we were thus occupied with 

 the Eaglets, Mr. Parsons was making 

 himself comfortable in the great nest. 

 It was composed of sticks, some of 

 which were a couple of inches in 

 diameter. A layer of sod was on top 

 of the sticks. It was about four feet 

 across the top and five feet through. 



When we had finished with the 

 young birds we put them again into 

 the bag, and they were hoisted to the 

 tree top, and placed in their aerial 



