THE OOLOGIST 



37 



THE GREAT HORNED OWL IN 

 STORY COUNTY, IOWA 



A number of years ago the Great 

 Horned Owl was a common bird in 

 Story County, Iowa, but it is now 

 rather a scarce bird because of its 

 persecution, and as nearly all the 

 heavy timber is cut away the Great 

 Horned Owl can not find very good 

 nesting sites. 



Although they are rather scarce 

 here, three sets of two eggs each were 

 taken in Story County last season. 



To Mr. Ralph Handsaker, of Colo, 

 Iowa, belongs the credit of collecting 

 two sets, a third set was taken by Mr. 

 John L. Cole, of Nevada, Iowa. 



The following is the data which Mr. 

 Handsaker sent to me: "I collected 

 both sets on March 8, 1921, along 

 East Indian Creek, both sets being 

 fresh, with birds on each nest The 

 first set being in an oak tree about 130 

 feet from creek, the nest was 27 feet 

 from the ground and was an old crow's 

 nest; I observed it very closely and 

 decided it had been used by the Owls 

 for the past few years, as the nest was 

 nothing but a platform of decayed 

 vegetation, all the lining it contained 

 was a few feathers from the bird. 



The second Owl's nest was found 

 about five miles down the creek. It 

 was about 20 feet from the bank in a 

 large maple 30 feet from the ground. 

 It also was in an old Crow's nest 

 practically the same as the first one, 

 lined with the soft downy feathers 

 from the bird's breast." 



The following is the data which Mr. 

 Cole gave me on the set which he col- 

 lected. "I collected my set of the 

 Great Horned Owl, March 1, 1921. It 

 was situated in a white elm 47 feet 

 from the ground and was, I think, a 

 nest of the Red-tail Hawk, as it was 

 too large to be a nest of the Crow. 

 There was no lining in the nest except 

 the rotten lining which was used by 

 the former occupant. There were a 

 few feathers scattered all over the top 



of the nest which was nearly flat, there 

 being a slight depression. The tree 

 in which the nest was situated was 

 in a fairly heavy timber and was about 

 forty feet from the bank of West 

 Indian Creek, about flve miles south 

 of Nevada. I have frequently ob- 

 served these Owls in this vicinity for 

 several years, but I have been unable 

 to secure a set of their eggs before 

 the one mentioned above. These birds 

 have been observed several times sinca 

 the set of eggs were taken. This set 

 exhibits the following measurements, 

 2.32x1.80, 2 29x1.79." 



I have just received my Federal 

 Permit for collecting eggs, also my 

 State Certificate. This will be my 

 first season of collecting eggs, and I 

 hope it will be a most successful one, 

 and hope to be able to send in some 

 notes to "The Oologist" later. If this 

 is read by any beginner in the oologi- 

 cal hobby who wants to correspond 

 Vv^ith me, I would be glad to answer 

 all letters which they want to write. 



I have called upon my two friends 

 in this county for notes on the Great 

 Horned Owl to help me in writing 

 this short article, however, I hope that 

 in the near future I may be able to 

 send in some notes and observations 

 taken by myself. 



Martin C. Paulson. 



Jan. 14, 1922. Nevada, Iowa. 



BLUE SPARROWS 



One day last February I heard one 

 fellow say to another as they were 

 assembling for work, "Say fellows, I 

 saw a Bluebird this morning." Another 

 fellow who didn't like to see anybody 

 get ahead of him answered, "Aw, that's 

 nothing, I saw a' couple of them 

 Christmas." The first fellow then 

 said, "Get out, all you saw was a 

 couple of Blue Sparrows." This is the 

 first blue sparrows I know of. How 

 about you? 



Arthur Blocker, 

 Amboy, 111. 



