THE OOLOGIST. 



177 



fresh eggs; in a tangle of bindweed 

 {convolvulus scpium) and nettle (siachys 

 palustris) two and one-half feet from 

 the ground. It was well protected 

 from "Dakota breezes" on all sides, 

 there being a long strip of willows 

 growing at the water's edge on one 

 side and partly surrounding it, while it 

 was well protected by the river bank 

 on the other. 



If the weather had been carefully 

 noted some time previous to nesting; 

 the nest photographed, and compared 

 with a series of pictiires illustrative of 

 the nests and nesting sites of this 

 species, with notes concerning the 

 botany of each nest; the surrounding 

 botany, which was supposed to offer 

 «ome special attractions; and notes con- 

 cerning the weather which was sup- 

 posed to have had some influence; 

 would it not have been possible to have 

 assigned some cause for this odd nest- 

 ing site. 



Perhaps a strong wind previously 

 destroyed a nest of this pair, (many 

 nests being thus destroyed every year) 

 thus causing them to seek a different 

 nesting place; or, there might have 

 been some attraction to the spot. Who 

 can solve the mystery? 



E. S. Cheney, 

 Pitrodie, South Dakota. 

 To be continued. 



Sawhet or Acadian Screeoh Owl. 

 {Nyctala acadica.) 



I was much interested in the article 

 which appeared in the June Oologist 

 written by Mr. Merritt. It caused me 

 to feel it my duty to relate my experi- 

 ence. 



On April -24, 1890, I was walking 

 along a small wooded creek which 

 flows through my father's farm. See- 

 ing something fly into a last year's 

 Flicker hole, I started to climb the tree 

 to see what it was. To my surprise, 

 two little Owls flew out which I saw at 



a glance were not the common 

 "Screech Owl." Presently one flew 

 into a hollow tree near by. With all 

 the caution I could avail I proceeded to 

 ascend. I succeeded in getting my 

 hand over the hole in which he had 

 gone. The hollow was four feet deep 

 and I saw I could not get him without 

 the aid of an ax. 



So plugging the hole with my hat, I 

 started home. Getting an ax I re- 

 turned to the scene of action. Chop- 

 ping a hole was short work, but getting 

 him out was still shorter. 



As it was getting dark, I gave the 

 other one no attention. The one I 

 captured presented the following data: 

 Sex, male; stretch of wings, 11% in.; 

 tail, 3f in.; locality. New Sharon, Ma- 

 hasha Co., la.; date, April 34, 1890. 



On April 26th, I was again passing by 

 the place where I captured the Owl. I 

 began to wonder What became of the 

 female. I started to climb the tree 

 from which I had started them before 

 and nearly reached the hole, when out 

 she flew. I chased her around some 

 time, trying to get her to go into a 

 hole, but I oould not persuade her to 

 do so. 



I saw this was hopeless and accord- 

 ingly started to get a gun. But before 

 I could get back my Owl had flown. 



Climbing the old tree again to see if 

 they had a nest, I found four white 

 eggs which measure 1 7-16 x 1 3-10. 

 The appearance of the shell much re- 

 sembles that of the egg of the Mourn- 

 ing Dove. 



On May 3rd, while I was out in a 

 grove, about a quarter of a mile dis- 

 tant from where I collected the Owl 

 eggs, I saw a hole some eight or ten 

 feet up. On climbing up, I found an- 

 other Owl identically the same as the 

 one collected on April 24th. Her meas- 

 urements, etc., are sex, female; length, 

 8 inches; stretch of wings, 16J inches; 

 tail, Z\ inches; locality. New Shai'on. 

 Iowa; date. May 3rd, 1890. 



