62 



THE 00L0GI9T 



April 1st was fine and warm and 

 the ice moved out of the Pembina 

 River. In the afternoon I saddled my 

 horse and tied my collecting outfit on 

 my saddle and with my camera in its 

 case on my back started out to take 

 the nest of the two owls. As the last 

 nest found was the easiest to obtain 

 a picture of, I took it first. The bird 

 sitting on this nest was the largest of 

 the pair and probably the female was, 

 with the exception of one Goshawk, 

 the most warlike of any I have had to 

 deal with. 



As I climbed the stub she charged 

 and knocked my heavy Stetson hat off 

 and struck me several times on top 

 the head and quite hard. Once she 

 put her claws through my shirt and 

 scratched the skin. I had to watch 

 her continually and wave her off when 

 she charged, always straight at my 

 head, as I was cutting out the side of 

 the stub to get a picture of the nest 

 and eggs. The mate appeared on the 

 scene soon after I commenced work, 

 but did not attack like the other. Both 

 birds remained close by while I was 

 there protesting with cries of rike, 

 rike, rike, rike and occasional whir-u, 

 whir-u, while flying. After I had 

 erected a tripod and obtained a picture 

 of the nest, I placed the eggs in my 

 collecting box and both birds returned 

 to the nest and examined it. They 

 were still there when I left to go to 

 the other nest. The seven eggs were 

 slightly incubated and were in the 

 hollow top of a dead tamarac or 

 spruce stub as shown in the picture. 

 The nest was about ten feet from the 

 ground and hollow about ten inches 

 deep. The eggs rested in a hollow in 

 the crumbled rotten wood at the bot- 

 tom of the hole. There was no nest- 

 ing material but this rotten wood and 

 a few feathers. 



After packing up my things, I rode 

 to the other nest which was in exact- 



ly a similar position in the broken top 

 of a tamarac or spruce stub about 

 eighteen feet from the ground and the 

 cavity about six inches deep. The 

 eggs rested on a crumbled, rotten 

 wood and a few feathers exactly as 

 in the first nest. There was an old 

 Flicker's nest immediately below so 

 the birds apparently preferred the hol- 

 low in the broken top as a nesting 

 site. This stub was so rotten and 

 shaky I could not climb it and had to 

 erect another tripod to secure the six 

 fresh white eggs. This bird was not 

 at all pugnacious, only uttering cries 

 of protest like the other. As soon as I 

 descended it returned and examined 

 the nest and sat in it for about a 

 minute and then left. 



On April 4th, I had heard a Hawk 

 whistling in a muskeg about four 

 miles from the other nests and on the 

 sixth I went to look for the nest. 

 After walking some distance along 

 the edge of the muskeg, looking at all 

 likely stubs I saw a Hawk Owl sitting 

 on a dead tree not far off, and started 

 over to investigate. Coming to a wet 

 place I threw a pole across to walk 

 on and the noise started an owl from 

 the stub. This nest was about twelve 

 feet from the ground and down about 

 a foot in the hollow spruce stub. It 

 is very difficult to tell the stubs apart 

 without an ax to cut into them. The 

 seven eggs could be seen through an 

 old Flicker's hole almost on a level 

 with them. They rested on a few 

 rotten chips and feathers and lay on 

 top of dry moss and grasses with 

 which the old Flicker's nest had been 

 filled up, likely by a squirrel. The 

 eggs also were fresh and it would 

 seem that the first week in April is 

 about the time to secure fresh sets 

 of eggs in this vicinity. Both birds re- 

 mained about close while I was taking 

 the nest but were not fighters like the 

 one at the first nest taken. While J 



