May, 1884.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



57 



Gastro-oological. 



April 5th, I took a set of fresh Barred 

 Owl's eggs, and ate them ! Well, why 

 not ? Are not eggs eaten by birds, rep- 

 tiles, quadrupeds, and the quadrumana"? 

 Yes; but Owl's eggs! Ah, well, your 

 Gallus domesticus eats swill and every de- 

 scription of barnyard filth, while my Owl 

 lives largely on the daintiest of game. In 

 its nests I have seen Quail, Grey Squir- 

 rels, Buffed Grouse and Babbits : indeed, 

 in this section, my experience shows that 

 both the Great-horned and Barred Owl 

 keep their young well supplied with the 

 common American Hare. Mr. Sam. Wol- 

 cott, who has a cattle range in south 

 Texas, informs me that both his cow boys 

 and himself — Greaser and Yank — freely 

 eat the eggs of the Teccalotl or Barred 

 Owl, which breeds abundantly there in 

 February and March. For choice, the 

 Mexicans would not accept the products of 

 your fancy poultry-yards. Capt. Daboll, 

 with a fishing crew from Noank, kept by 

 fog over night on Gardiner's Island, made 

 an omelet of Fish Hawk's eggs and — 

 contra Wilson — found it a good addition 

 to their menu. Mr. Curtis, of the Poland 

 Springs House, has eaten Hawks' eggs in 

 California under like conditions. For 

 many years I have been in the habit of re- 

 freshing myself in the field, after a long 

 tramp, by blowing sets of eggs and swal- 

 lowing the contents. Barbarous, you say. 

 Well, try a little savagery yourself. It will 

 agree with you. If you have no hand- 

 blower, it is easier and quicker to draw 

 the contents of large eggs with the mouth 

 than to labor with the old-fashioned blow- 

 pipe. On trial, it was shown that I could 

 empty and rinse six Fish Hawk's eggs 

 while a friend prepared three with his Ells- 

 worth blower. In fine, then, it is well to 

 bear in mind that however thin in flesh 

 your land birds, and however fishy your 

 sea fowl, the eggs will uniformly be found 

 to be edible. 



My Easter eggs came promptly to hand 

 in the shape of two fine sets of Bed-tailed 

 Hawk. Why will new writers follow old 

 authorities and insist that the typical 

 clutch of JB. borealis is three ? (See 

 Stearns' N. E. Bird Life, part 2, page 123, 

 " generally three in number.'') I always 

 make a bet with my climber, before he 

 reaches the nest, that the set will be two, 

 and win nine times out of ten. 



The red squirrel is well recognized, in 

 the field, as a pest to egg collectors, but 

 this season a pah entered the attic where 

 Chas. Bichards keeps his collection and de- 

 voured blown sets of Yellow-headed Black- 

 bird and Purjjle Grackle. Seven sets of 

 White-bellied Swallow's, which I took from 

 stubs in Pachaug Pond and left in a farmer's 

 shed, were eaten by rats. St. Patrick's 

 Day I had a Woodcock for dinner, killed by 

 the telephone wires in Thamesville. One 

 week later, a large male, with lower mandi- 

 ble broken, was picked up under the wires 

 on the Colchester turn-pike, which stretch 

 of line has proved destructive in former 

 years. As the telephonic 'plant' increases, 

 the cordon of danger is drawn tighter 

 around our Philohela. The injury is 

 usually to the bill, the base of the bill, and 

 head. The cranium can be seen to be 

 enormous, but it is not every epicure that 

 knows what a large and delicious morsel is 

 a broiled Woodcock's brain served in cream. 



How many 0. and 0. readers to-day can 

 say what is the first bird to arrive in Conn.? 

 Now, here you are puzzled at the very A. B. 

 C. of local ornithology. Not the Bluebird 

 which winters with us in constantly increas- 

 ing numbers. Not the Bobin whieh can 

 be found on occasion all winter. Is.it not, 

 then, our friend the Woodcock which is 

 always the last to leave us, wholly disap.- 

 pearing in the hard mid-winter .frosts, and 

 is here again before the earliest spring-hole 

 is more than half open and when the water- 

 cresses begin to show signs of vitality. 

 This season, during the foggy days in the 

 middle of Feb., skunk-hunters reported the 



