54 



THE OOLOGIST. 



and sometimes broken out Downv 

 Woodpecker's hole. Very frequently 

 we could tear away the rotten wood all 

 around the nest and take it out whole. 

 The oldest and rottenest holes seem to 

 be preferred. 



In all the books and papers that I 

 liave, none mention this Warbler as a 

 summer resident, except G. G. Cant- 

 well's list of the birds of Minnestoa. It 

 ■certainly should be classed as fairly 

 common in .suitable localities along 

 the Mississippi River in southern Min- 

 nesota. C. B. Johnson, 

 Red Wing, Minn. 



Nesting" of the Short-eared Owl in 

 Western New York. 



On April 7th while on a trip for 

 Hawk's eggs I had the good fortune to 

 find a set of Short-eared Owls. As I 

 am unable to find anything about this 

 bird in such back numbers of the OoLO- 

 GiST as are in my possession I thought 

 it might interest your readers to know 

 something about this find. 



The nest was in a low swampy tract 

 of land on the outskirts of a tamarack 

 swamp. 



The land had at one time been plowed 

 and parallel ditches dug about 20 feet 

 apart, but it had evidently never been 

 cultivated for it was overgrown with 

 weeds and cat-tails. 



I had just jumped one of these ditches 

 when the old Owl flew up not 10 feet 

 ahead of me, and began circling around 

 me snapping her bill and giving a pe- 

 culiar cry resembling very much the 

 "yowl" of a cat when you step on her 

 tail. 



A hasty examination of the clump of 

 flags from which she had flown dis- 

 closed seven (7) eggs in all stages of 

 dirtiness from the worst (probably the 

 first one laid) which was stained a dark 

 drab, to the best which was a pure 

 white. 



The nest was simply a slight hollow 



in the ground, in the center of a bunch 

 of last years Hags, it was lined with 

 flags from the clump in which it was 

 located and contained a few feathers. 

 It measured 6 inches in diameter by 2i 

 inches deep. Beside it lay a little ball 

 consisting of the fur, bones and teeth 

 of some small animal, probabl\ a mouse. 



Before disturbing the nest, however, 

 I turned my attention to the bird and 

 by the aid of my opera glasses 1 was 

 able to get a very good description of 

 her while she was hovering over me, 

 and finally when she gave up and 

 alighted on a small tree near by I was 

 able to get a good stationary view of 

 her from all sides. 



1 then returned to the nest (which I 

 had marked by sticking my climber in 

 the ground near it), packed the eggs 

 and started on. 



On blowing, the eggs were found to 

 be slightly incubated. They measured 

 1,51x1.30, 1.53x1.26, 1.68x1,25,1.53x1.81, 

 1.56x1.30, 1.58x1.29 and 1 57x1.28. I 

 had no trouble in identifying the bird 

 from the notes. The location of the 

 nest would have almost proven the 

 species. 



I think that there must be several 

 pair in the vicinity for there was hardly 

 a stump or an ant hiil in the whole 

 marsh that did not have one or two of 

 those little balls of fur and bones on it. 



While passing through a marsh near 

 the river two days later I saw another 

 pair of the birds but was unable to find 

 their nest. 



I find that Short in his list of birds of 

 Western New York has this bird down 

 as, "Common fall or winter visitant 

 and possible rare breeder." 



I am glad to be able to prove that his 

 supposition was correct. 



Frank S. Loav, 

 Buffalo, N. y. 



I SOLD my Eagle through the adv. Adver- 

 tising in the Oologist pays. F. W. COLLINS, 

 Garden City, Kans. 



