broken wing is commonly resorted to, and 
sometimes the conduct of the distressed 
bird is very pathetic. 
North Dakota is essentially a prairie 
state, but the Devil’s Lake region is favored 
with some goodly stretches of heavy timber 
and here breed many species common to 
the older states where great trees are 
plentiful. 
April 20, 1896, a lad brought mea female 
Great Horned Owl shot at the nest, which 
was apparently an old nest of Hawk or 
Crow, 28 feet up in a large elm in a thick 
grove near the former shore line of Devil’s 
Lake. It contained two eggs, one of which 
came to grief before it reached my hands, 
and the other was surprisingly small, meas- 
uring only 2.06x1.75, considering that the 
bird showed dimensions of 2734 inches in 
length by 4734 inches in extent. Incuba- 
tion was far advanced. 
On May 2 last, while ona trip to the 
wild country some 4o miles west, my com- 
panion, J. R. Craigue, in a fringe of timber 
bordering Antelope Lake discovered a nest 
of this Owl containing two young, pretty 
well feathered and apparently a couple of 
weeks or more out of the shell. 
It is possible we have here the western 
form of the Great Horned Owl (subarcticus), 
but the species observed were plainly refer- 
able to B. virginianus. 
Minnewaukan, N. Dak. 
ee — 
An Idea for Drying Eggs. 
Edwin C. Davis describes in the ‘‘Orni- 
thologist and Oologist’’ a new way todry 
eggs. Hesays: ‘‘The old way of drying 
eggs by absorption on blotting paper often- 
times causes a valuable specimen to be 
broken near the hole by the egg sticking 
to the paper. Now my way does away 
with blotting paper, and the art of drying is 
done perfectly and instantly. This is my 
way: After blowingithe eggs, and after 
rinsing them with water, hold them over a 
hot stove, or anything where hot air may 
touch the egg (hole down); and if you have 
never seen it done, I think you will be 
wonderfully surprised at the rapidity in 
which the water is forced from the egg, 
and how soon it is dried. 
+o+ 
Mr. W.E. Bryant of Santa Rosa,Cal.,has removed 
to Los Angeles, where he will remain for at least a 
year, 
THE NIDIOL,OGIST gl 
COOPER ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB 
Southern Division 
HE Division met at the residence of 
Joseph Grinnell at Pasadena, Febru- 
ary 27. Harry Swarth of Los 
Angeles was elected to active membership. 
Mr. Grinnell exhibited a number of valu- 
able photographs taken from life during 
February 1897, of Anna’s Hummingbird, 
nest and young. The photographs show 
the female in the act of feeding the young 
by regurgitation, and in many other 
interesting positions; among the most 
notable being one showing her perched on 
the edge of the nest, which together with 
the branch on which it is situated, has 
been detached from the tree and held in the 
hands of a person. ‘The whole is a series 
of remarkably clear and valuable photo- 
graphs showing what an indispensable aid 
the camera is to the student of Ornithology. 
A paper was read by W. B. Judson ° on 
The White-Throated Swift 
‘‘A small colony of these birds had been 
breeding in the cavities and caves of a large 
rock, a few miles from town and close to 
the Los Angeles River. About the first of 
June, 1894, Howard Robertson, Harry 
Swarth and myself made atry for a set of 
eggs of the Swift. I located a nest in a 
small cave about 75 or 100 feet from the 
bottom and about 20 feet from a small 
ledge that ran across the face of the rock. 
We had a one-half inch, 50 foot rope which 
was lowered from the ledge and held in 
place by the others while I went down it. 
I landed in a small cave and soon discovered 
the small round hole in the top of the 
cave from which I had seen the Swift fly. 
‘‘T succeeded in getting my hand into the 
hole, after losing a little spare skin and 
found that the hole went straight up for 
about a foot and then formed a letter T, 
the nest being situated at the end of one of 
the arms, The nest was just completed 
and ready for the eggs, but unfortunately 
for us we were a few daystooearly. The 
nest was composed of straw, small soft 
twigs and feathers glued fast to the rock. 
We were unable to pay the rock another 
visit for several weeks on account of being 
absent on a collecting trip. On our return 
we collected the nest for Major Bendire of 
the Smithsonian Institution. 
“My next try for eggs of the White- 
throated Swift was made in the Huachuca 
