124 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. 9-No. 10 



in a period of a little over three months, 

 I was so fortunate as to secure as many in- 

 dividuals of this species as had been taken 

 in the previous twenty-two years. The 

 seven, too, were taken within a mile and a 

 half of here. Of the two taken on Decem- 

 ber 22d, one was but slightly wounded. 

 This I placed in a small room of the house. 

 I had here an excellent opportunity of ob- 

 serving it, and was much amused at its 

 comical attitudes. Each time the door 

 was opened for a peep at his owlship, he 

 would lower his head until it almost 

 reached the floor, move it slowly and con- 

 stantly from side to side, roll up his dark 

 brown deep sunk shining eyes in the most 

 solemn manner. This performance was 

 repeated each time the door was opened. I 

 handled him frequently before sacrificing 

 him to science, and at no time did he offer 

 resistance with his talons after the manner 

 of Eaptatorial birds, (and I assure you his 

 talons were formidable enough,) but con- 

 fined his line of defense to his bill alone. 

 The Barn Owl is undoubtedly a very 

 useful bird to the farmer, having as it has 

 an almost unlimited penchant for rats and 

 mice. Two or three pairs of these birds 

 would in the course of a year destroy 

 many hundreds of these pests that infest 

 our barns and grain sheds. I quote the 

 following from Mr. Dury's article on the 

 Barn Owl in the Cincinnati Natural Histo- 

 ry Journal. " On going up into the tower 

 of the 'Town Hall' of the village of Glen- 

 dale," (where several of these owls were 

 secured the past year,) "I was astonished 

 at the sight presented. The floor and 

 ledges were covered with the cast up pel- 

 lets of the birds. There were hundreds 

 of these pellets, and must have contained 

 the debris of several thousand rats and 

 mice." This is certainly evidence of the 

 economic value of these birds. Mr. Dury 

 also states that he found them living in 

 harmony with several pairs, of tame pig- 

 eons which had their quarters in the tower. 

 — P. T. Shepherd, Monroe, Ohio. 



Yellow Warbler'vs. Cowbird. 



In the O. and O. of March, (Vol. is, 

 page 34,) Mr. C. B. Keyes mentions hav- 

 ing found a Scarlet Tanager's (P. rubra) 

 nest with a Cowbird's (M. Peeoris) egg 

 embedded in the bottom. This recalls to 

 mind a Yellow Warbler's (2>. cestiva) nest 

 found by me at Fort Laramie in 1880, 

 which shows how persistent these birds 

 are sometimes in trying to evade hatching 

 the eggs of the Cowbird ; but in this case 

 the peeoris got the better of the cestiva in 

 the end. The nest was placed in a rose- 

 bush, when, after laying one egg, two Cow- 

 bird's eggs were deposited in it. The ces- 

 tiva immediately went to work and built 

 another nest on the top of these eggs ; but 

 after laying two eggs another egg of the 

 Cowbird was left in her care. Still being 

 determined not to be the foster mother to 

 these strangers, she added another story 

 to her already large nest. After laying 

 three eggs her nest was again visited by 

 the Cowbird and two eggs left there. Her 

 little heart failed her this time and she 

 submitted to what seemed to her to be in- 

 evitable and commenced incubation. I 

 had not the heart to take her nest at this 

 time. In due course the young were 

 hatched and to my surprise the Cowbirds 

 were the first to see light, and they formed 

 quite a nest full of themselves. But when 

 the young warblers were hatched, I un- 

 ceremoniously tumbled the Cowbirds out. 

 The old birds did not seem much pleased 

 with my actions. Still as' I from a child 

 always took the part of the weak side I 

 felt as if I had done my duty. When the 

 young had flown I secured the nest to- 

 gether with the eggs in the two lower 

 stories of this queer house, and it is now 

 in my possession. These eggs were still as 

 fresh as if just laid. A friend of mine took 

 a nest of the same bird in Worcester, 

 Mass., in 1872, of two stories.— Chas. T. 

 Morrison,, Fort McKinney, 'Wyoming 

 Territory. 



