THE AUDUBON NOTE BOOK. 



MEMBERSHIP RETURNS. 

 The number of registered members on Feb. 28 

 stood at 22,397, showing an increase during the month 

 of 2,567, accounted for by States in the following 

 table : 



New York 566 1° -^a 37 



Massachusetts 19J Minnesota 15 



New Hampshire 21 In .iana loi 



Rhode Island 23 Kansas 102 



New Jersey 151 Missouri 71 



Connecticut 20 Nebraska 2 



Vermont 14 Tenn ssee 17 



Maine 16 Wisconsin i 



Pennsylvania 367 California 8 



Georgia '2 Louisiana 2 



District of Columbia 33 Florida i 



West Virginia 17 Texas 17 



Ohio 119 Aikansas 2 



Illinois "5 Canada 222 



Michigan 296 England 1 



PRAIRIE OWLS AND SCORPIONS. 



It is quite the custom for people at large to fancy 

 that hawks and owls do nothing but harm, and should 

 be destroyed whenever the opportunity occurs. This 

 is not at all true. Of the useful work performed by 

 one species of owl, Mr. George II. Wyman, of Utah 

 Territory, writes in Forest and Stream as follows: 



"Among all the birds of America there are none 

 better deserving to receive the protection of the laws 

 than the little prairie owls of the Pacific slope. Al- 

 though very numerous they are harmless and unob- 

 trusive. They may generally be seen sitting on a 

 heap of sand thrown up by the prairie dog in digging 

 his hole. This hole is appropriated by the owl for 

 his house, and as you ride past, he never fails to 

 salute you with a very polite bow, and in the style of 

 the real gentleman. The female may often be seen 

 with her half-grown brood sitting at the entrance of 

 the invariable prairie dog hole. Should you come too 

 near she makes her obeisance and retires with her 

 little ones as gracefully as might a fashionable lady. 

 B.'cause of the positive good he does in the destruc- 

 tion of many harmful insects and reptiles, and especi- 

 ally the scorpion, he should have protection. In 

 southern California and the warmer parts of Utah 

 and Arizona, every summer evening brings forth 

 great numbers of scorpions. They get into the gar- 

 dens and infest the paths and walks about door yard 

 and gardens; and but for the appetite and industry of 

 the owl they would become an intolerable nuisance in 

 those hot climates for three or four months of the 

 year. At such seasons our little owl comes quietly 

 about the house at dusk every night and picks up the 

 scorpions by scores. Usually he has some place near 

 by, as the cornice of the house or some broad beam 

 in the barn, where he deposits his load and eats what 



he desires. He devours only the soft part of the 

 body of the scorpion, leaving the head, claws and 

 tail of the reptile until there may often be found a 

 quart or more of such remnants at the place he has 

 chosen for his nightly banquet. One owl, having 

 selected a perch under the cornice of my house as the 

 spot for devouring his nightly catch of scorpions, left 

 in a week so large a quantity of remnants as to prove 

 he must have destroyed the reptiles by the score every 

 night, and of course the yard about the house and 

 the garden were correspondingly thinned of these 

 most unpleasant creatures. This good work, as well 

 as the grave courtly manners of our little prairie owl, 

 have made him our special friend and induce us to 

 speak a good word for him." 



ODD ANTICS OF BIRDS. 



A RELATIVE of mine had a large marsh upon his 

 estate, and here the great cranes made their summer 

 home, building their curious nests there and rearing 

 their young. The marsh was surrounded by high 

 grass, and it was his practice to creep through and 

 watch the birds unobserved. The antics they went 

 through would be impossible to describe, says a 

 correspondent of the San Francisco Call. Now 

 they would caper along in pairs, stepping daintily 

 with the winning gait of the ideal e-xquisite, lifting 

 their feathers or wings, taking short steps, and 

 gradually working themselves up to a bird frenzy of 

 excitement, when they would leap into the air and 

 over each other's backs, taking short runs this way 

 and that, all for the edification of the females stand- 

 ing by, and finally, after a series of these e.xhibitions, 

 the different birds selected their mates. Among the 

 birds of the Western Hemisphere the cock of the 

 rock ranks next to the crane in the strangeness of 

 its evolutions. The bird is confined to South America, 

 and is about the size of a small pigeon; has a bright 

 orange web in the male, with a plume-like arrange- 

 ment upon the head. It is a proud bird, principally 

 building its nest in rocky places not frequented by 

 man. At the commencement of the breeding season 

 a party of birds, numbering from ten to twenty, as- 

 semble, and selecting a clear space among the rocks, 

 form a ring or circle, facing inward. Now a small 

 bird takes its place in the center and begins to hop 

 about, toss its head, lift its wings, and go through 

 all the strange movements possible, that appear to 

 be watched with great interest by the rest. When 

 the performer is thoroughly exhausted he retires to 

 the circle and another bird enters the ring, and so 

 on, until all have been through their paces, when 

 the pairs probably make their selection. Often the 

 birds are so exhausted after the dances that they 

 can hardly fly, lying panting on the rocks. 



