Jan., 1919 THE SOLITAIRES OF SHASTA ZA 
port, namely, the white with palest possible blue-gray tinge, and the definitely 
light blue type. In this set one egg appears almost pinkish as to ground, by 
reason of the diffusion of red markings, and the probable warming effect of the 
contents. The more pronounced type is of the palest niagara green; while the 
markings of both are of ochre red and prussian red. 
These six sets of eggs reposing in nests ‘‘taken with the bloom on’’, now 
occupy an entire drawer in the collection of the Museum of Comparative Oology. 
Only one of those who gaze upon them is able to recall a flood of delightful mem- 
ories (Bert alas! is exiled at Santa Cruz) ; but with these authoritative trophies 
for a text the Director will be able to point out to hundreds of others something 
of the ‘‘meaning of things’’, and to fill the minds of strangers with a sharp un- 
rest until they too have heard the Solitaire sing on Shasta. 
Santa Barbara, California, December 1, 1918. 
NESTING OF THE SHORT-EARED OWL IN WESTERN WASHINGTON 
By E. A. KITCHIN 
WITH FOUR PHOTOS BY E. A. KITCHIN AND J. H. BOWLES 
T HAS heretofore been an unsettled subject, though much discussed among the 
bird men of this vicinity—that of the local nesting of the Short-eared Owl 
(Asio flammeus). Though the birds are common in the fall and winter, no 
records had been established of their breeding here. 
Our Tacoma tide-flats cover several square miles of territory. Through the 
center runs a road that acts as a dyke, keeping out the tide that at one time cov- 
ered nearly all this region, especially in the winter when the highest tides occur. 
Deep sloughs that twist and turn, intersect this whole section and act as chan- 
nels for the waters of the incoming and outgoing tides. Jn the winter the Short- 
eared Owls are generally flushed from the edges of these sloughs where they hide 
most of the day, under some over-hanging grass or weeds. 
Judging from various descriptions of nesting locations east of the Cascades, 
the proper places to search seemed to be where the grass or cover was long 
enough to afford good concealment for the large clutch of white eggs. I knew 
a sixty-acre tract on our flats answering this description, lying well above the 
summer tides. Last year I worked back and forth over this ground, using up 
several precious Sundays, but failed to locate a nest or even to flush a bird; and 
were it not for the fact that on one certain afternoon I saw two pairs of owls 
skimming back and forth in search of food, I would not have tried again. Firmly 
convinced that they did not use this heavily grassed section, I resolved this year 
to try the edges of the sloughs, their habitation in the winter months, the result 
peing that two nests were found and photographs and records made. 
My first effort this year (1918) was on May 6. Securing a stick about eight 
feet long, I traveled up the side of one slough and then down the other, keeping 
the length of the stick from the edge, and after about two hours of this was re- 
warded by flushing the owl from her ‘‘nest and four’’. When she jumped she 
scattered three of the eggs out of the nest but none was broken. The nest was 
placed in a very open position and the eggs could be seen sixty feet away. A 
