. 
e 
NATURAL HISTORY MISCELLANY. ee 
the length of this part of the burrow was eighteen inches. The eggs 
were placed in the hollow on the bare earth. I have seen many of 
their burrows, and have yet to find one in which anest is made of any 
material 
Again he says: “The Mottled Owl selects for a nesting-place a hol- 
low tree, often in the orchard, and commences laying at about the first 
being nothing more than a heap of soft ry ea 
This is another instance in which the bird makes no peada or at least 
I have never found one. All rapacious birds are awkward workmen at 
nest-building, especially the Owls. Those Owls which occupy a nest 
Tepair it with dried sticks, sometimes green ones with the leaves ad- 
ering, which they break from the neighboring trees ; and with bark 
collected from dead limbs, etc.; very seldom do they construct a new 
nest. i 
The difficulty with which Owls and Hawks obtain the material for 
building their nests, compels them to use the same nest year after 
year; the upper mandible so overhangs the lower one, that it is difi- 
cult for them to pick up a stick from the ground, and they often 
use their claws to carry the material. 
Had n ot Mr. Samuels been an eye-witness of the weaving capacity 
in the meadow, and lay their eggs on the bare turf; and when they 
pretend to build a nest it will not compare in architecture with that of 
= common hen 
make these Tetadeiaainta: because i pelieve facts concerning the 
ses should be given as well as the minutix of classification, as in 
this way information will be the better imparted to those seeking 
knowledge; and we shall then have the natural history as well as 
nomenclature of birds. —AUGUSTUS FOWLER, Danvers, Mass. 
GE oF CoLor IN Fisu.—A medium-sized ‘‘horned-pout,” in a 
dining « saloon in this city, ces color in a few days from black to a 
h has remained in running water some 
is 
_ fact may help to confirm Mr. Bolles’ observation mentioned in the 
N 
ATURALIST, p. 391.—W. B. CHAMBERLAIN, Worcester. 
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 63 
