THE OOLOQIST 



195 



four o'clock a. m. and made my way 

 to a small woods where I had seen 

 three young Horned Owls the previous 

 season. I was expecting to find the 

 nest in a hollow tree and was very 

 much surprised when upon hitting a 

 large maple, which contained an old 

 nest to see a Horned Owl quickly 

 leave the nest and fly away. At last 

 there was an owl's nest, and putting 

 on my climbers I soon was viewing the 

 interior of it. 



The nest contained two eggs and 

 was situated about seventy-five feet 

 from the ground in a crotch formed by 

 three limbs. As I stood there on a 

 small limb congratulating myself on 

 my luck, I heard a dull peep, and up- 

 on looking closer saw that one of the 

 eggs was pipped. And then to cap 

 the climax the limb which I was 

 standing on broke off, leaving me sus- 

 pended in the air Fortunately my 

 hand was grasping a limb above me 

 when the accident happened and I 

 pulled myself to safety I tried to burn 

 one of the eggs out with caustic 

 potash, but to no avail. 



The second nest I found was a de- 

 serted one of the Barred Owl. By the 

 looks of the nest it had been used that 

 year, and when the nest was dis- 

 covered a Barred Owl was sitting be- 

 neath it. 



On April 14th, I found my last Owl's 

 nest. It was in a beech tree about 

 eighty feet up. My only hope was to 

 find a rotten egg, for I could see a 

 fuzzy youngster in the nest. The old 

 birds did not show up until I com- 

 menced to pull away one side of the 

 nest that hindered me from looking 

 over the rim. Then the female flew 

 in with a hoot and lit on a limb close 

 by. I kept at my work, until— Bang! 

 I thought an avalanche had struck me 

 for I was nearly knocked from the tree 

 by a blow on the side of my head. My 

 hat was gone, face all scratched up 



and ear bleeding. I hastily examined 

 the nest and made my descent while 

 the female owl was telling her mate 

 how brave she was with many a Jioot 

 and howl. The young owl looked like 

 a Buff Cochin bantam. A rabbit about 

 half eaten constituted the contents of 

 the nest. 



This ends my notes on owls, and 

 now I am waiting and imagining what 

 next season will bring in the way of 

 owls' nests. 



Lyle D. Miller. 



E. Claridon, Ohio. 



Rare Specimens 



The Editor has recently added to 

 his collection sets and in some cases 

 series of eggs taken this year of the 

 Yellow-billed, Black-throated and Red- 

 throated Loon, Parasite and Long- 

 tailed Jaeger, Pacific Kitowit, Old 

 Sqaw and Pacific Eider, White- 

 cheeked and Cackling Goose, Black 

 Brandt, Little Brown Crane, Red and 

 Northern Phalarope, Pectoral, Baird, 

 Least and Pacific Red-backed Sand- 

 piper, Lesser Yellow-legs, Black and 

 Ruddy Turnstone, Hoary Redpoll, 

 Alaskan Longspur, and last but not 

 least two sets of eggs and the skins 

 of the parents of the very rare Knot 

 (Tringa canutus) ; of which there are 

 but four authentic sets known, all of 

 these specimens coming from one col- 

 lector and most of them being accom- 

 panied by the nests of the birds as 

 well as the skins of the parent and in 

 some cases by a series of skins and 

 the downy young. 



Another collector writes that he has 

 forwarded 8 sets of the Loon, 5 sets 

 of Wilson Snipe, 2 sets of Western 

 Goshawk, 11 sets of Sharp-shinned, 5 

 sets Great Grey Owl, 1 set Richard- 

 son's Owl, 3 sets of American Hawk 

 Owl and 1 set of Sam White Owl. And 

 yet another correspondent sends a set 

 of Long-billed Curlew, 2 sets of mount- 

 ain Plover and a set of Sage Grous(^ 



