THE OOLOaiSt 



m 



put in our appearance. We, of course, 

 gave chase, pursuing them with pieces 

 of slate stripped from the churcli roof, 

 and all heedless of the gathering con- 

 gregation until summoned down by the 

 town Marshall and taken away to the 

 lockup, which as usual was vacant. 



We were left there all forenoon, "to 

 give 'em a good scare" as our jailor 

 remarked, in the midst of what would 

 have been a paradise to an entomolo- 

 gist but which did not appeal strongly 

 to us. 



Our Spotted Owl is the equivalent 

 of the Eastern Barn Owl, but is very 

 rare. Less than a dozen authentic sets 

 of Spotted Owls have been taken, and 

 the bird itself is but seldom met with. 

 Personally, I have only identified thid 

 species twice, both times in tall fir 

 trees in deep shady canyons. All of 

 the sets collected have been taken 

 from holes in cliffs. 



The Long Bared Owl occupies old 

 crow and Hawks nests, also sometimes 

 the platform of the wood rat. They 

 are rapidly becoming scarce, and it 

 gets more difficult every year to find 

 them here. I do not know what the 

 habits of this species are in other parts 

 of the country, but here they seem to 

 nest in colonies of from two to seven 

 or eight pairs, a custom that is shared 

 by the Barn and Burrowing Owls. 



Elsewhere in the Oologist I have 

 written of the Burrowing Owl, so can 

 add but little here. I have dug up a 

 great many of their burrows, more per- 

 haps than was necessary, but with a 

 definite object in view. I wanted to 

 take a set of ten if possible. Several 

 years ago I was with another collector 

 when he took a clutch of that number, 

 and then and there made up my mind 

 that I would duplicate the achievement. 

 It took a long time, during which I dug 

 enough trenches to parallel a European 

 battle line, but I finally succeeded. 

 Since then I have been content to rest 

 on my laurels. 



Screech Owls are Screech Owls the 

 country over, and our two varieties 

 are not different in habits from others. 

 The Flammulated lives in the high 

 mountains, the California in the foot- 

 hills and valleys. The latter is the 

 commonest of our Owls, likely to be 

 found anywhere, but especially part'al 

 to oak groves and willow bottoms. One 

 peculiarity about my relations with the 

 Screech Owl is that I can never find a 

 nest when I set out to look for one. 

 But let me be peering into suitable 

 nooks in search of Woodpeckers, or 

 Wrens or Sparrow Hawks, and I am 

 pretty certain to rout out one of these 

 funny little fellows. 



Every season it is a point of interest 

 to me to see what will be the first nest 

 found. One year it was a meadow 

 lark, once a thrasher, once a shrike, 

 and several times a Hummingbird, but 

 usually the honor falls to the Owls. 

 They are found early and for that 

 reason are doubb/ welcome. 



D. I. Shepardson, 

 Los Angeles, Calif. 



NEW HAMPSHIRE NOTES. 



Every year a pair of Loons breed on 

 a large pond in this town. This year 

 there was another pair that stayed 

 around a somewhat smaller pond until 

 the last of July, and probably nested 

 there. 



The American Woodcock is a ratlier 

 rare breeder here. June 25, 1914, I 

 collected a badly incubated set of three 

 from a nest on a little hummock of 

 earth in an old orchard which was 

 grown up with brush. 



The winter of 1915-16 was especially 

 enriched by the presence of Evening 

 Grosbeaks. From one to seven indi- 

 viduals were seen at various times be- 

 tween the dates of February 28 and 

 April 21. 



On April 15, 1916 I saw a flock of 

 over a hundred Snow Geese, undoubt- 



