56 



THE OOLOGIST. 



this set, but instantly the idea flashed 

 through my mind, I ought to have 

 some substitutes to put in their place 

 and see what Bonasa would think 

 of them. But what kind to take? I 

 had often seen some old geese eggs 

 lay in a box in an old shed on a 

 farm where I had often passed. These 

 eggs had been set the year before, 

 but for some reason had not hatched, 

 so still lay there all stained and dirty. 

 To these I took refuge. I made haste 

 to get three of the large eggs, nestled 

 them nicely into the bed of leaves and 

 went off 'a ways to watch the result. 

 After twenty minutes she came in a 

 very cautious walk, always stopping 

 and looking around; at last she was 

 at the nest and looked at the eggs. 

 She seemed delighted to find them 

 there yet, evidently I had not put them 

 in the nest in the proper way, for she 

 turned them from one side to the 

 other, all round and round, till at 

 at last they lay properly; then she 

 made preparations to sit on them, 

 but again had great trouble covering 

 the three monsters. She turned around 

 four times before she held the cor- 

 rect position . But now, there she sat, 

 the keen black eyes half closed, a fig- 

 ure of perfect contentment. Now, I 

 knew she had accepted the three eggs 

 for her set of seven and was trying 

 to raise goslings, but I doubted that 

 she would possess enough persever- 

 ance to incubate sufficient time, even 

 if her new set would have been fer- 

 tile. At the end I found out that I 

 had greatly wronged her in her per- 

 severing qualities. 



That day I did not bother her, 

 but the other day, and after that fre- 

 quently. I always found her on her 

 nest, carefully hiding her treasures. 

 June came and went. July 2nd I left 

 the locality, but before going I went 

 along the quiet path once more to bid 

 my forest friend adieu, who was sit- 

 ting on her nest as consented as ever, 



still incubating those dirty monsters. 

 I am not able to tell how long a time 

 she thought it necessary to incubate 

 yet, for I had no further connections 

 with the locality. 



I secretly hoped that some other 

 Oologist (who was ignorant of the 

 facts) would find the nest. How he 

 would have gazed at those abnormal- 

 ties! Identification would have been 

 easy for the female sat very close. 

 With a thrilling heart he would have 

 taken his rare specimens with him, 

 to give them a place among his 

 scarcest of scarce sets. However, his 

 surprise and astonishment would have 

 mocked all description the moment 

 his drill cut through the thick shell. 



Now, at closing, I would like to 

 know if any of the readers have made 

 similar experiments, or met with such 

 result as I am able to report. 



E. J. DIETRICH. 



More About Snowy Owls. 



The interestin article by Neil F. 

 Pcsson on Snowy Owls in the March 

 Oologist, seemed especially timely to 

 me, inasmuch, that as I sat reading 

 his article on the day of its arrival 

 (March 19), a fresh specimen of the 

 Arctic traveler was lying stretched 

 on the table before me. 



If my own record could settle the 

 question of the preponderance of 

 early or late winter visitors, Mr. For- 

 dyce would be unquestionably in the 

 lead. But one swallow does not make 

 a summer, and I am able to add but 

 a single link to his chain. However, 

 the Snowy Owl has hitherto been very 

 erratic in its flights — some years plen- 

 tiful, other years scarcely seen — may 

 not his time of coming also be irreg- 

 ular and vary in different localities 

 and different seasons? As to his usual 

 coming, I could not testify, for his ap- 

 pearance here, in Central Illinois, 

 along the 40 degree parallel is regard- 



