80 



THE OOLOGIST 



on this date being 27 degrees F. My 

 view of the nesting spot on approach 

 was without obstruction and as I 

 walked slowly toward the nest a close 

 watch was kept to determine, if pos- 

 sible, just how near I could get to Kill- 

 deer before she left the nest. At this 

 last visit both birds were seen several 

 yards from the nest. One of them, pre- 

 sumably the female, several times re- 

 peated a deceptive maneuver of ly- 

 ing rather still on her back and side, 

 but did not feign lameness or make 

 any outcry. Once she appeared to lie 

 on her back with one foot stuck 

 straight in the air. 



About 4:30 p. m. the same day I 

 sat at my window, three hundred 

 yards from Killdeer's nest, with a tele- 

 scope focused on the nesting spot. I 

 had just returned from the nest and 

 as a result of careful study of the lo- 

 cation was able to fix the telescope on 

 the exact spot. However, this spot ap- 

 peared little different from any other 

 square yard of ground in the im- 

 mediate vicinity. It was not long, 

 however, before Killdeer appeared 

 near the nest and quickly she ran to 

 the eggs settling upon them. At the 

 same time she disappeared from sight; 

 there being no contrast whatever be- 

 tween the sitting bird and her sur- 

 roundings she was a fine example of 

 the protective coloration common to 

 many of our ground nesting birds. 



Half ati hour later on returning to 

 the nest, Killdeer was already twenty 

 yards from her eggs before I saw her, 

 though I kept my eyes on the nest 

 from the time it came into view. As 

 I advanced toward the nest Killdeer 

 ran a few yards further on, squatted 

 on the ground, fluttering one wing, 

 turned on her side and violently kick- 

 ing with the uppermost foot she ap- 

 peared to be in the midst of convulsive 

 agonies. With a desperate cry, "kill- 

 dee-dee-6," she settled to the ground re- 

 maining almost motionless for about 



one minute. But as this staged death- 

 act did not move me from her nest she 

 ran to a flat, rock several feet across, 

 where she again rehearsed her act. A 

 few steps toward her and her convul- 

 sions were at an end. With loud cries 

 she took wing, circled over the field 

 and finally alighted in a ploughed 

 tract about fifty yards away. On the 

 following day, March 30th, the set 

 was collected. 



Now, a few conclusive remarks. 

 Killdeer never allowed me to see her 

 in the act of leaving the nest but was 

 always several to many yards from 

 her eggs before I saw her. Never did 

 she feign lameness or a broken wing, 



EAGLE AND FOX TERRIER DOG ' 



The following was told to me with 

 proper affidavit. 



A man living south of Ft. Worth 

 went out on the prairie to hunt rats 

 with his two fox terrier dogs. The 

 dogs were running after a rat when 

 a large Golden Eagle dropped from 

 the sky and picked the largest dog up 

 and started to fly straight up in the 

 sky. They got up several hundred 

 feet and the dog caught the Eagle in 

 the throat and down they came to the 

 ground. After they landed both dogs 

 pounced upon the Eagle and were 

 having a free for all fight when the 

 man ran up and tied the Eagle's feet 

 together after a wrestle, and took it 

 home with him. He has the Eagle 

 in a cage to show as proof of his 

 queer capture. 



Ramon Graham, 

 Fort Worth, Texa:;. 



NOTES FROM SOUTH DAKOTA 



February 28, 1921 we started out to 

 collect eggs of the Great Horned Owl. 

 Our objective point was a heavJy i 

 wooded bend in the Missouri River 

 five miles southwest of Verimllion, 

 Clay County. From a Red-tailed 



