5: 



THE YOUNG OOLOGIST. 



very small except the bill and feet, it 

 might be mistaken for a little white ban- 

 tam chicken. A pretty sight, indeed, 

 is this snow white brood of little creatures, 

 in a hole of some ^ old apple tree, in the 

 thick, shadowy part of the orchard, or in 

 some partially decayed tree in the edge of 

 a dense woods. 



On one of the last days of May (1880), I 

 was surprised; while passing through the 

 woods, by something which seemed to me 

 at first sight a large bunch of gray wool on 

 a limb some fifteen feet from the ground, 

 but which, on closer examination, proved 

 to be four young Screech Owls, nearly full 

 grown, well fledged, and sitting so closely 

 together, and so perfectly still, as to re- 

 quire quite an effort to define them to the 

 eye. They were a Aveird sight. The 

 plumage was soft and downy, the color 

 cold gray, thus refuting the theory that 

 the red garb, in which this bird is often 

 found, is the immature dress. The same 

 species seems to be sometimes red, and 

 sometimes gray, independant of age or sex. 



In the latter part of June, the same year 

 on entering the woods at late twilight, a 

 bird flew at his my head, uttering a hoarse 

 guttural scream, followed by a sharp 

 snapping of the bill. It proved to be a 

 Screech Owl, probably a parent bird, with 

 young near by. 



Including a number of varieties, this 

 Owl inhabits North America at large; — 

 From Rev. J. H. Langille's, "Our Birds in 

 their haunts' 



The Importance of Identification. 



Having been a collector of birds eggs 

 for many years, I feel that I have a right 

 to call the boys' attention to the greatest 

 error which they generally make at the be- 

 ginning of their career as Oologists ; that 

 is the collecting of eggs not fully iden- 

 tified. In many of their collections you 

 will find eggs marked ' ' hen hawk " or 

 " ground bird," when in fact either of 

 these names will apply equally well to 

 several varieties, and neither egg is of any 

 scientific value unless better named, and 



when I say better named I mean correctly 

 named also. Unless you are positively cer- 

 tain that you know the bird by seeing it 

 do not take the eggs till you can take the 

 bird. This will seem to many cruel ad- 

 vice but if you will collect at all, you 

 should collect in such a way that your col- 

 lection will be of value. There are many 

 ways of taking the bird, the most satisfac- 

 tory way being to shoot her, but as many 

 of you have no gun, you will have to fall 

 back upon the various kinds of traps. Of 

 these by far the most useful is a simple 

 snare of horse-hair for small bu'ds, and of 

 twisted horse-hair for large ones. These 

 snares wiU very seldom fail to catch the 

 bird, if properly placed about the nest. 

 There are various other traps well known 

 to most of you, but they are not so certain 

 to take the correct bird as the snare, for it 

 often happens, that other birds besides the 

 owners of the nest are about, sometimes 

 seeking for food which is commonly most 

 plentiful in just the places where you will 

 find the nests, and sometimes like your- 

 selves birds-nesting. So it is very necess- 

 ary that you should be certain that the 

 bird you take is the one that owns the 

 nest. 



The next most important thing after 

 most positively identifying the eggs, is to 

 make such a record that all your trouble 

 may not be wasted by your own forget- 

 fullness. Put a number on each egg with 

 a lead pencil, and number each egg alike ; 

 th^n in a blank book kept for the purpose 

 enter the number, and opposite it the name, 

 date, locality, number of eggs in the set, 

 how they were identified, as "both birds 

 shot, " or " female snareci. " as the case 

 may be, full description of the nest as to 

 size, inside and outside, diameter and 

 depth construction, material, and how 

 and in what sort of a tree it was placed, 

 whether in the woods or fields, whether 

 the locality was wet or dry, and any other 

 information jow. may think of value. A 

 set of eggs so identified and with such a 

 record is worth a hundred carelessly col- 

 lected. 



In conclusion let me ask you to always 

 remember that the value of a collection 

 does not depend upon its numbers but on 

 the scientific accuracy of its collector. — 

 The Collector. B. A. G. 



