94 



fHB OOLOGI8T 



I selected the third of April, 1914, for 

 the attempt. As the nest was on an 

 island in the river and the river being 

 rather high, 1 put on my boots, drop- 

 ped an egg box in the pocket of my 

 coat and my 32 Colts automatic in my 

 hip pocket and started out. 



Passing across the stream that lay 

 between myself and the island, I ap- 

 proached the nest as quietly as I could. 



When within about one hundred 

 yards of the nest Mrs. Red-tail left it 

 and sailed away in ever-widening cir- 

 cles. 



I made haste to climb the tree, 

 which was a cotton-wood and the nest 

 was about thirty feet up. The upper 

 half of the tree was dead. On reach- 

 ing the nest I took care not to disturb 

 it and looked over the edge to where 

 the eggs lay. To my surprise instead 

 of the usual two or three there were 

 five of the beauties. Four of the clutch 

 were about the same size and with 

 little or no variation in color. The 

 fifth was just a shade smaller and a 

 dull white with no markings of any 

 kind on it. I imagined that it was the 

 last egg of the clutch to be laid. 



After carefully packing them away 

 I descended the tree and went on my 

 way. They are now among my cher- 

 ished possessions. Do you think that 

 this clutch is unusually large or not? 



John B. Hurley. 

 North Yakima, Wash. 



[Yes, sets of five of this bird are 

 very unusual indeed. This is the first 

 set of this size that we know of. — 

 Editor.] 



EAGLES. 



Eagles must be holding their own 

 in Oklahoma state. Lately I have re- 

 ceived two fine specimens of the 

 Golden Eagle from there. One sent 

 by Mr. W. M. Mesley at Hickory, 

 Okla., had been shot with a Winches- 

 ter. It measured six feet from tip of 



one wing to the other. The other 

 bird was much larger and in better 

 shape. It was found dead on L. Craw- 

 ford's farm near Grand, Okla., and 

 sent here by parcels post. It was a 

 mystery how it met its death, but I 

 soon found out that it was shot with 

 to a hill. Just across the fence one 

 hundred yards was a fine field of 

 clover. Why did she not nest in the 

 clover field? 



April 2, 1916, found Barn Owl nest 

 in cavity of large Sycamore tree; nest 

 held two young birds just hatched 

 and seven eggs in different stages of 

 incubation. Both parent birds were 

 in the cavity when I climbed to the 

 nest. 



March 26, 1916— Found Barn Owl in 

 cavity of Sycamore tree, upon the bot- 

 tom of hte cavity lay six dead field 

 mice. I went back to this tree every 

 eight or ten days to watch for a set of 

 eggs. On April 9th four eggs were n 

 the nest. I did not take them but 

 went back to the nest on April 16th 

 a 22 through the back. Now, brothers, 

 what do you think of any one that 

 would shoot such a graceful bird as 

 our national emblem, the eagle, and 

 leave it lying to rot. Of course some 

 collector might of shot it and it flew 

 off and died. But I will bet a dollar 

 to a dough nut that some bonehead 

 shot this bird just to see him fall and 

 to say that he had slayed a monster 

 eagle. Every one will not agree with 

 me but I think that the Eagles ought 

 to be protected by all means. Some 

 people ask me why I say protect the 

 eagles that destroy useful animals, 

 when I would collect the eggs. One 

 fellow said I know why you want 

 them protected, it's because you do 

 not want the eggs to play out. No, 

 brother, it's not that at all. If we can 

 have a law to protect the eagles, the 

 eggs must be also protected. 



Ramon Graham. 

 Ft. Worth, Texas. 



