THE ORNITHOLOGISTS’ AND OOLOGISTS SEMI-ANNUAL. 27 
ating, drive him away and take possession of the place in his own 
name; and I also was disappointed in a case of this kind. Ihad for 
several days been watching the excavation of a nest by a Downy 
Woodpecker, and had already imagined five or six beautiful white 
eggs lying snugly packed away in my collection, when one morning 
on visiting the nest, you may imagine my surprise and vexation at 
finding a plucky House Wren now occupying the home of my Downy 
Woodpecker. 
The Owl line is represented in winter by the Long-eared Owl, the 
Great Horned Owl and the Little Screech Owl. Concerning the lat- 
ter bird, a peculiar instance of its unwillingness to leave a spot which 
it has chosen for its home, returns to my mind. A pair of these 
birds have for at least four years had the same nest in the hollow of 
an old apple tree, and just as regularly as the female would lay a set 
of eggs, they were always taken by a person in the neighborhood. 
Does it not seem strange that a bird should continue to lay eggs in 
the same nest so many years, after having been continually robbed of 
its eggs? And it certainly must have been the same bird, for surely 
three or four different pairs would not select the same place in suc- 
cessive years for breeding purposes. 
The Slate-colored Junco /unco hyemalis, is generally quite abund- 
ant during the winter. ‘his little bird is a favorite with everyone, 
and deservedly so. We all enjoy its pleasant chatter and pleasing 
ways as it hops about in search of food. 
The noisy English Sparrows, of whom we all know a great deal, 
are always with us. Several pairs annually build about our stable, and 
I destroy, on an average, seventy-five eggs a year from these nests. 
If ail our Oologists do their part, we can certainly do something to 
prevent the rapid increase of this little pest. 
Hawks are abundant, although perhaps not so much so as before our 
state legislators passed our famous “bounty law.” During the two or 
three years of its existence, Pennsylvania paid as bounties for the 
slaughter of Hawks and Owls almost one hundred thousand dollars 
($100,000.00), besides suffering untold injury from their destruction. 
The White-breasted Nuthatch Sizta carolinensis, is another very 
interesting resident but, as in the case of the Chickadee, its nest is 
seldom found here, Last year one was discovered, but upon being 
opened it was found to contain but two eggs. It was in a tree along 
the border of the woods and was about twenty feet from the ground. 
(B.S. O.] 
