156 



THE OOLOGIST. 



No dues or entrance fees are exacted. 

 Members are added with the approval 

 of the President. Owing to our large 

 membership onr reports can be pid)lish- 

 ed at a merely nominal cost for each 

 member who desire lo purchase them. 

 D We haA'e now a strong and enthusias- 

 tic organization, and cordially invite all 

 ornithologists and oologists to join us 

 in advancing our favorite science. Ap- 

 plications for membership may be 

 made to 



,J. B. RiCHAKDS, President, 



Fall River, Mass. 



or LvNDS JoxES, Secretary, 



Grinnell, Iowa. 



A Bit of Biography. 



John Jarae Audubon, the greatest of 

 American Naturalists was born in 

 Louisiana in the year 1780. When quite 

 quite young he was passionately fond 

 of birds, and took delight in .studying 

 their habits. In 1797 his father, an Ad- 

 miral in the French navy sent him to 

 Paris to be educated. When he again 

 returned to America he settled on a 

 farm in Eastern Pennsylvania, but af- 

 terwards rtnuoved to Henderson, Ky., 

 where he resided se^■eral years, support- 

 ing his family by trade, but dcAoting 

 most of his time to the pursuit of his 

 favorite study. In 18,27 he went to 

 England, and commenced the publica- 

 tion of the "Birds of America" which 

 consists of ten volumes — five of engrav- 

 ings and five of letter press. Cuvier de- 

 clares this work to be "the most mag- 

 nificent monument that art has ever 

 erected to ornithology." In 1830 Audu- 

 bon returned to America and soon after 

 made excui'sions to nearly every section 

 of the United States and Canada. A 

 popular edition of his great wcjrk was 

 pnl)lished in seven volumes in 1844 and 

 "The Quadrupeds of America" in six 

 vcdumes, three of plates and three of 

 letter press in 1848. 



He removed to tlie vicinity of Ncav 



York about 1840, and resided there un- 

 til his death which nccuri'ed in the yc^ir 

 1851, at the age of 71 years. He knew 

 all birds either by their flight or voice 

 so thoroughly did he know the featlier- 

 ed tribe of America. 



Paul B. Haskell, 



Ashlan.l, Ky. 



The Burrowing Owl. 



During a short stay in California in 

 1888, it was my fortune to obtain a set 

 of Burrowing Owl's eggs. I was re- 

 turning home from a collecting ti'ip one 

 day, April 21, tired and not in a A'ery 

 good frame of mind, for t had not had 

 much success that day, wlicn I saw one 

 of these birds fiy up a short distance 

 ahead of me, and on drawing near I 

 discovered a hole which I rightly con - 

 jectured was the bird's burrow. It was 

 too deep for me to reacli the bottom 

 with my hand, but I returned the next 

 daj' with a spade and after digging 

 al:)out a foot in the ground I again tried 

 to reach the bottom of the ii(>st, and felt 

 a feathery snljstaiice, which was the old 

 bird. I caught her fi)-ml,y by the wings 

 and drew her forth, and proceeded to 

 examine the nest, wliich cohtained 8 

 pnre white eggs, incidjation advanced. 

 The nest was about 2i feet deep, and at 

 the entrance was about lialf a foot in 

 diameter. It did not run straight into 

 the ground but in a slanting manner. 



I took the old bird liome Init after- 

 Avard gave her her liberty, for as I 

 robbed her of her eggs, I woidd not 

 commit a further indignity l)y robl)ing 

 her of her freedom. 



The Burrowing OavI ineeds from the 

 Mississippi River west and is found 

 plentifully on the plains in tlnit I'egion. 

 It is said that it often inha!>its the same 

 hole with a rattlesnake <>r sonic snniU 

 burrowing animal, l)ut T do not think 

 it does in California. L. C. A. 



Kentnckj'. 



