110 



THE OOLOGIST 



nest in hollowers of large trees and 

 also in hawks nests. In order that I 

 might get an early start, I went out 

 and spent the night in a small lake 

 house five miles south of town which 

 was owned by my father. The morn- 

 ing of the twentieth was very bright 

 and warm; and having ben awakened 

 early by a "nigger boy who was to 

 act as my guide and show me what 

 he took to be the nests of the "Big 

 Who-o-o Owls.". I was ready to start 

 at five-thirty with an ax, a collecting 

 box, a rope, and a 32 revolver for 

 scaring the owls from their nests. 



After walking a few miles and hav- 

 ing, "tapped many trees, I met an old 

 negro plowing in a field. I stopped 

 and asked him about the owls' nests; 

 he left his plow and mule in the field 

 and showed me to a post oak tree in 

 the woods near by, and told me that a 

 pair of the "Big Owls" had been nest- 

 ing here for over ten years. 



Although the hole pointed out was 

 only eighteen feet from the ground, the 

 tree would have been hard to climb, 

 but there was a small sapling within 

 a few feet, and with that and the 

 help of the rope I was able to climb 

 the tree. When I was within a few 

 fet of the hole an owl flew out just 

 above my head. On looking in the 

 hole I was greatly pleased to see two, 

 almost round, white eggs, and at once 

 I knew them to be those of the Barred 

 Owl. After writing the desired data 

 in my note book, I packed them in my 

 collecting box and lowered them to 

 the ground with a string. After rest- 

 ing a few minutes I was ready for a 

 new start, greatly encouraged by my 

 early -success. 



After walking for about a mile 

 through a thick wood I was crossing 

 a hill when I saw a Barred Owl sit- 

 ting in the mouth of a large hollow in 

 a Post oak tree. The owl flushed 

 when I started up the tree and flew 



deep into the woods, not being seen 

 again while I was in the vicinity. On 

 climbing up, however, I was dis- 

 appointed as it was nothing but a hole 

 filled with sticks. 



From here I went about a mile and 

 a half to a high sandy hill, where 

 there was once a house, but it had 

 burned during the war, and there was 

 nothing left but a grove of Giant 

 oaks; these trees had some "good 

 looking" holes in them that I wanted 

 to look at. I immediately started 

 "tapping" the trees and had not gone 

 far when on tapping one of the larg- 

 est trees a Great Horned Owl flew 

 from a hole in the very top. After 

 a rather hard climb of thirty-three 

 feet, I looked in — and there were 

 three large white eggs, the first that 

 I had ever seen of this species. 



By this time it had begun to get 

 dark and I started back to camp. On 

 the way, however, I stopped to rest 

 under a large post oak, and more 

 from habit than anything else, tapped 

 the tree. To my great surprise a 

 Barred Owl flew from a hole that I 

 had not seen before. On climbing up 

 I found that the nest contained only 

 one egg and left it, hoping to collect 

 a full set a few days later. 



I arrived at camp at seven o'clock; 

 tired, and hungry but well pleased 

 with the day's success. 



A. D. M. 



Albino Robin 

 P. A. W. Dean of Alliance, Ohio, re- 

 ports collecting a nearly white Robin 

 with a spotted breast and white head, 

 the back being black, the wings white. 

 This would make a very nice speci- 

 men to mount. 



"I wish to say that the March num- 

 ber is the very best Oologist that has 

 been issued. 



Horace O. Green. 



