Oct. 1884.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



123 



nest. It was placed in low thick bushes, 

 about two and one-half feet from the 

 ground. I saw the parent bird slip noise- 

 lessly from the nest as I approached it, 

 and she at once took herself into some 

 thick bushes on the other side of a small 

 stream near which the nest was placed. I 

 stood back and waited her return ; but 

 while I remained in sight she did not come 

 and it was not till I had gone some dis- 

 tance lip the stream and returned an hour 

 or so afterwards, that I again saw her 

 leave the nest in the same noiseless man- 

 ner. The outer portion of the nest was 

 composed of large sticks and roots loosely 

 placed and lined with fine rootlets. It 

 measured 6 inches outside, 3 inside, 2£ 

 deep. There were three eggs which are 

 now in my cabinet, measuring as follows : 

 No. 1 is 1 2-16 in. x 14-16 in. No. 2 is 

 1 3-16 in. X 14-16 in. No. 3 is 1 4-16 in. 

 Xl4 T 16 in. They are of a light bluish 

 green, with faint reddish brown specks 

 scattered pretty well over the surface but 

 thickest near the larger end. The eggs re- 

 semble those of the Steller's Jay, but are 

 smaller. — 3. TV. Denton, Wellesley, Mass. 



The American Barn Owl in Ohio. 



The Barn Owl has been heretofore con- 

 sidered an extremely rare visitor in Ohio. 

 Many excellent ornithological collections 

 of Ohio birds, have been made within the 

 limits of the State, but few indeed are those 

 who are so fortunate as to include in their 

 series of Owls an Ohio specimen of Strix 

 flammea. 



In Dr. Wheaton's exceedingly valuable 

 report of the "Birds of Ohio," incorpo- 

 rated in Volume IV of the Geological 

 Survey of Ohio, he says: "Bare visitor." 

 "Not over half a dozen individuals record- 

 ed." The year 1861 marks its first known 

 positive occurrence and capture, although it 

 was supposed before this that it was an oc- 

 casional straggling visitor in Ohio. Mr. 

 Chas. Dury records the capture of two 



more, prior to 1878, both taken near Cin- 

 cinnati. This, Mr. Dury remarks, is the 

 only record, extending over a period of 

 more than seventeen years, that we have of 

 then- occurrence in southern Ohio. 



In the summer of 1879, a friend informed 

 me that he had a few days before shot a 

 strange Owl. From his description of the 

 bird I knew at once that it did not answer 

 to the size, coloration and markings of our 

 common Owls. I lost no time in going to 

 see it, and after fishing it out of the creek 

 where it had been thrown, I was delighted 

 to find it to be a fine specimen of this rare 

 Owl. Warm weather and flies had done 

 their work well, but notwithstanding its 

 " ripeness" it was after much patience and 

 care converted into a passable skin. In 

 1880, Mr. Markley took an adult male at 

 Foster's Landing, on the Ohio Biver, thir- 

 ty-six miles above Cincinnati. From the 

 interior of the State but two are recorded. 

 One near Columbus, hi 1878, and the other 

 at Circleville, in the summer of 1873. This, 

 I think, completes the list, and gives a to- 

 tal of seven individuals, taken in a period 

 of twenty-two years within the entire lim- 

 its of the state. 



But whatever degree of rarity may have 

 marked its occurrence heretofore, the past 

 year has made full and ample reparation, 

 especially as far as southern Ohio is 

 concerned. Here is the list. On October 

 18, '83, a fine specimen of Strix flammea 

 was brought to me by a farmer. This in- 

 dividual was taken in an apple orchard 

 near some grain sheds. The 15th of De- 

 cember another was killed. This one I did 

 not secure, as it was utilized for millinery 

 purposes by one of our rural belles. Two 

 more were added to the list on December 

 22d, a third one escaping. A deep snow cov- 

 ered the ground at this time. These were 

 taken near the Miami river. The day before 

 Christmas the fifth was killed in an open 

 grain shed. Another was added to my 

 collection January 12th, and the seventh 

 and last on January 22d, 1884. Here then 



