152 



THE YOUNG OOLOGIST. 



Notes on the Great Horned Owl 

 Virginia. 



from 



Great Horned Owls are very common in 

 this locality, and are .easily decoyed by 

 careful imitation of their deep voiced 

 groaning. They are very careless and 

 bold, and will enter almost any kind of 

 trap. 



I have caught, stuffed and mounted ten 

 this winter, the largest being a little less 

 than five feet in alar expanse. They are 

 very savage in the defense of their nest 

 and mates, of which latter fact I was made 

 painfully aware of one night, the 20th of 

 January last. 



The night preceding I had captured a 

 fine male specimen which I placed in the 

 corn house for safe keeping. 



As soon as it was dark he began to hoot, 

 and soon called up his mate ; then for a 

 couple of hours held a free ticket concert ; 

 one in the corn house, the other on the 

 barn near bj'. 



Quietly creeping up behind the corn 

 house and peeping between it and another 

 building I saw the owl perched on the 

 l)arn. 



Three times she uttered her deep call 

 and each time the prisoner gave answer. 

 Then she espied my head as I was peering 

 around the corner of the building, about 

 fifteen yards from where she sat on the 

 barn. After a mutual study of each other 

 a few moments, she dropped down out of 

 my sight in the deep shadow of the barn, 

 having been boldly outlined against the 

 clear sky ; to fiy awny though I ; not so. 

 The next instant a dark object came sailing 

 on swift wings between the buildings, 

 struck me a blow on the forehead which 

 nearly knocked me to the ground, passed 

 on leaving me very much bewildered by 

 the suddenness and force of the attack. 

 The owl meanwhile hovering near and 

 seemingly inclined to renew the assault. 



Then reperching on the barn hooted de- 

 fiance and ridicule at me. 



I then gave up the contest and returned 

 to the house to repair my lacerated scalp, 

 which was bleeding freely from two 



wounds, one in the middle of my forehead, 

 an inch and a quarter long, and a deep 

 puncture in my left eyebrow. 



A few nights after I caught the same owl 

 and found her the most troublesome and 

 savage of any I ever handled. 



On the 9th of January last while hunting 

 in a large forest near the James River, I 

 was shown a large nest by a flock of crows. 

 They would circle around them, alight in 

 the top of the tree over the nest and look- 

 ing down at it would keep up the greatest 

 string of crow talk 1 ever heard. 



Knowing that something, possibly an 

 owl's nest, I emptied one barrel of my 

 gun into it. It being about forty feet from 

 the ground, to my delight a very large bird 

 of some kind flew heavily out. 



It only flew about ten feet from the nest 

 before coming to earth, in response to the 

 summons of a load of No. 4 shot. It 

 proved to be a very fine Great Horned Owl. 

 I wished very much to climb the tree for 

 eggs, but not having my spurs with me I 

 lost them. 



Dissection showed she had deposited 

 them and was sitting. 



Joseph B. Underhill, 



Fork Union, Va. 



Nest of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 



( Coccygns amercan u^. ) 

 On the 20th of last July 1 was out in a 

 piece of swampy woods on my farm, Wild- 

 wood, and hearing the notes of a small 

 bird — strange to me in a thicket of willow, 

 and other small timber — I penetrated in or- 

 der to interview the author. As I did so 

 the sound seemed to move further off, and 

 I followed it. Suddenly bursting through 

 the thick brushwood into a spot more open, 

 I saw just before me, and within reach, a 

 nest of bramble with the bird seated upon 

 it. Gazing at the bird a few moments, I 

 identified her as the Yellow-billed Cuckoo. 

 As this was the first nest of this species 

 that I had discovered I eagerly approached, 

 and lound as the bird flew off that it con- 

 tained two eggs of a light greenish hue, 

 about as long, but more oval than those of 



