The Hawkeye 0. and 0. 47 



To read our current ornithological literature, it certainly does 

 look as if most of us are Nature's betrayers instead of her disci- 

 ples — have rather the instincts of the cat and the weasel than the 

 fine sympathies that mark the true bird lover and student. 



L. O. Pindar in speaking of the Bluebird notes May as being 

 late for finding its eggs fresh, but the fact is, these little fellows 

 hatch three broods a year when things are favorable; and I have 

 known them to often bring out nestlings in the latter part of 

 June. February 12th is the earliest date I have recorded of 

 their nesting here, but that was most uncommonly early I think. 

 This spring they did not begin to build until the 7th of March, 

 though I suppose this winter will be cited for its phenomenal 

 mildness for a hundred years to come. 



MI FIRST OVL'S NEST. 



BY W. C. BROWNELL, W. OF. M., ANN ARBOR, MICH. 



[Extract from ''The Oolopist's Camp Around the Great Lakes and 

 Inland.] 



We entered the swamp by a path known only to myself, and 

 after mucli laborious tramping through the tangled underbrush at 

 last emerged into a particularly clear space, the center of which 

 was occupied by an immense dead pine stub which loomed up far 

 above the surrounding trees. 



Seating ourselves on an old moss covered log not many yards 

 distant from the dead pine, and while the smoke from our pipes 

 curled lazily upward, mingling with the balsam scented air, gave 

 out its fragrant aroma, I related to my friend the" circumstances 

 connected witli the collection of my ''first owl's nest." 



During the preceding fall and winter, on most dark, cloudy 

 days and nights I had heard what I took to be the call of some 

 species of Owl, issuing from various portions of this self- same 

 timber tract. 



