10 



THE OOLOGIST 



the nest, and upon my standing with- 

 out furtlier advancing, at about ten 

 feet away, she returned in an aimless 

 manner and resumed lier place upon 

 the nest. Then I advanced another 

 short step or two, she again left her 

 charge; and as I stood still as before, 

 she once more returned while I was 

 about eight feet from the nest, and 

 quietly took her place in the nest. 

 There were four eggs in this instance, 

 and I presume they were advanced in 

 incubation, judging from the owner's 

 desire to remain with them. 



This completes the writer's obser- 

 vations upon the Desert Horned Lark 

 and the American Magpie for the 

 season. 



The Owls of Northern Central Iowa. 



American Long-eared Owl. This 

 can be classed as a rare breeder as l 

 have taken but five sets in 15 years 

 of collecting. These sets were all in 

 old flattened crow' nests and were all 

 taken in the second growth timber in 

 the hills back from the river. I have 

 never seen an Owl of this species in 

 the river bottom lands. 



The sets ran in numbers from four 

 to six eggs and were taken from April 

 2nd to April 18th. 



Short-eared Owl, a slightly more 

 abundant breeder and resident than 

 the Long-eared species. I can ger- 

 erally find one or two sets each year, 

 by diligent search in the large weedy 

 hay fields to the south of here. The 

 number of eggs are usually five or six 

 and the nest just a few weed stems, 

 grasses and feathers or may be a hol- 

 low in an old rotted hay stack is used. 

 I usually keep on the look out for 

 nests of this Owl about corn planting 

 time, May 10th. 



Barred Owl. A rare bird with us 

 here in Kossuth County. I have a 

 record of but one nest in fifteen years 

 of active collecting. This nest was in 



a hollow limb of a big soft maple, 

 twenty feet up; taken March 28th, 

 1908. The tree was in a deep ravine 

 near the river and the three eggs were 

 slightly incubated. I have hunted 

 long and patiently ever since for a 

 nest but without results. 



Screech Owl. An abundant resi- 

 dent, nesting in all manner of hollow 

 trees, usually in natural cavities, high 

 up or low down. Eggs, three to seven 

 and the busiest time from April 10th 

 to the 20th. 



Great Horned Owl. Another abund- 

 ant resident. Nesting from February 

 29th to March 31st The sets here, 

 are always of two or three eggs and 

 an old nest of Krider's Hawk is us- 

 ually selected. Occasionally in the 

 bottoms a tree with a trough like cav- 

 ity or an old crow's nest is used and 

 always when awake the crows are on 

 their trail. 



Snowy Owl. A rather rare winter 

 visitor in Iowa and I doubt if a hunter 

 could average one bird a year. I have 

 but one record of a bird taken. This 

 Vv'as on April 18th, 1900, while duck 

 shooting near ,Galbraith, possibly a 

 cripple, although of strong flight. 

 From the lateness of it lingering 

 something looks wrong. 



Burrowing Owl. Another rare Owl 

 and I believe the rarest. I secured 

 one bird, a male, either on June 8th or 

 9th in 1904, two miles south of the 

 Minnesota line and this is the only 

 bird I have seen of this species in 

 Iowa. 



W. H. Brigaman. 

 Cats 



London, Ont. — Mrs. Sarah Calvary, 

 60, is dying in Victoria hospital from 

 terrible injuries inflicted by her cat. 



The animal was sitting in an open 

 window and when Mrs. Calvary closed 

 the sash it caught the cat's tail. 



Infuriated, the cat sprang at her, 

 biting and clawing her face. An art- 



