THE OOLOGIST. 



105 



by watching the parent birds carry food 

 to their young. Found in the same 

 ticld as No. 2. Date, May 23, 1889. 



ORLEANS COUNTY ALSO. 



Several nests of this bird have been 

 lound in Orh^ans county and among 

 others a set of two eggs taken b.y E. J. 

 Botsford, of Medina, on March 19, hist. 



Aside from tiie earliness of tlie date, 

 this set is peculiar in the markings of 

 t!u^ eggs, and perhaps a description of 

 them will b(^. of interest. 



The marlvings of this set appear moie 

 distinct than is usually the case and 

 are of a darker shade. Egg No. 1 is 

 evenly spotted over the entire surface, 

 while egg No. 2 is a rarity. Nearly all 

 of its spots are concentrated near the 

 great end, forming a ver^^ dark wreath 

 of greeiiish-brown thereabout. Aside 

 from the wreath the markings are very 

 sparse and each end of the egg displays 

 the grayish-white background, free and 

 unmarked. This egg also has the im- 

 perfect pencilings of black near the 

 large end, common to the eggs of this 

 species, while egg No. 1 has no such 

 markings of black. 



The eggs of this s it measure respect- 

 ively, .84 X .65 and .84 x .63. 



N. F. P. 



The Saw-whet or Acadian Screech Owl. 



The Saw-whet Owl {NyeUda ficadtca\ 

 or Acadian Screech Owl, as it is com- 

 monly called, is the smallest member 

 of the Owl family in Eastern North 

 Americ,a, and is considered quite rare 

 in the District of Columbia four only 

 being taken by the following gentle- 

 men, respectivel3': The first by Mr. 

 Fredrick Webester, the well-known 

 taxadermist, the second by the Smith- 

 sonion Institution, the third hy Mr. A. 

 E. Colburn, and the fourth by myself 

 which I took a short time after the one 

 taken by Mr. Colburn. I gi^-e the fol- 

 lowing measurement's, etc., from m,y 

 skin. (Date, Dec. 31, 1889. Locality, 



Ivy City, D. C; Sex., female; Lengtli, 

 7iin.;Wing,16iin.;Tail,8 in.) The follow- 

 ing from Dr. Thomas M. BrcAver's Amer" 

 ican Oology gives the Habitat, etc., as 

 follows: "North to New Calendouia; 

 Dr. Towsend observed it in Oregon; Dr. 

 ('ambell in California; IMr. Audubon in 

 Kentucky and Louisiana; Wilsc»n in New 

 Jersey; McCueluch in Nova Scotia and 

 Dr. Hoy in Wisconsin." "Mr. Brewer 

 further states that he lias taken eggs in 

 northern Ohio and oliserved the bird in 

 various parts of New England." As to 

 their nesting he says: "The Acadian 

 Owls rear their young in the hollow * f 

 trees often only a few feet from the 

 ground, in the desei-ted nests of oth( r 

 birds, in crevices of rocks and accort'.- 

 ing to Wiison occasionally construct 

 nests for themselves among thick pine 

 trees. The eggs are of a In-ight clear 

 white and more like a woodpecker's 

 than an owl's in their crystalline clear- 

 ness; a specimen from northern Ohio 

 measures 1 2-16 x 14-16." 



W. Allison Me]?k).tt, 

 Washington, D. (J. 

 [A set of live eggs of this sjiecies in 

 our possession — taken at Elk River, 

 Minn — does not show the polished or 

 glos.sy surface — so ch:iracteristic in the 

 Woodpeckers and smne Owls. These 

 specimens are, however, the ]nu'est cf 

 white with a surface rather inclined to 

 be rough, but not polished or glossy, 

 and except in size, resemble, exactly, 

 clean specimens of the Elf Owl. — Ed.] 



Pine Warbler. 



Three miles towards the south from 

 this city, lies a large patch of woods 

 rapidly disappearing before the yearly 

 onslaughts of the woodsman's axe. 

 Around it are the cultivated fields and 

 the partly cleared wood-lots of the far . 

 mers; within its contines all is chang- 

 ed. Here one could easily imagine 

 that the primeval forests had suddenly 

 arisen on their old-time sites. The im- 

 mense pines reach so far towards the 



