AA^otAiey. 
March 27, while passing a large birch, 
noticed a hole about three feet from the 
ground. Examination proved it to con- 
tain a Saw- whet Owl , which we let remain. 
April 6, I again visited the hole where 
we had discovered the Saw-whet Owl, and 
was agreeably surprised to find it tenanted 
as before with the addition of a set of two 
eggs ; average dimensions 1.05x90. 
fa o.&o. IX. Jan, 1884. p. 9 
'Jesting of the Saw-whet Owl. 
Correspondence 
Editor of O. & 0.: 
On the 6fcli of July last, I took a set of four 
eggs of the Saw-wliet Owl. The eggs were 
placed in the deserted nest of a Woodpecker, 
in a stub about twelve feet up and within ten 
feet of a travelled highway. 
This was the second set from the same nest. 
A set had been taken a week or ten days 
previous by a frien d of mine. He was not 
able to give the exact date. I was unable to 
visit the nest again, but was informed by my 
friend that the bird soon laid a third set 
of four, which were allowed to hatch. 
In both cases when taking the eggs, the old 
bird had to be taken from the nest by force. 
Both sets were perfectly fresh, and are now in 
my collection. 
Birds are abundant here this winter, which is 
quite the reverse of last season when but very 
few were seen. 
O.Vol.l7,May 1802 p; 80 
s the nest of the Saw-whet Owl is con- 
fed quite a find and I have had the good 
me to take several sets, I will give some 
iy experience in that line, thinking it may 
rest the readers of the “ O. & O.” About 
piles from this village is a tract of mixed 
ier land of ioo acres, more or less, com- 
d of about three-fourths hard and one- 
h of soft wood timber, containing many 
jrowth trees and old stubs, a favorite re- 
Eor Hawks and Owls. Previous to this 
m I had taken two sets of Saw-whets 
an old maple stub in this piece of woods 
jast season found the nest in the same 
place, containing young birds. As this brood 
was raised unmolested, I thought my chances 
for taking a set from the same nest were 
excellent this season. After three visits to 
the stub this year I made up my mind that I 
should have to look in some other tree for 
my Saw- whets, as I had seen nothing of them 
and it was getting later than the usual time 
for their nests. I was thoroughly acquainted 
with this locality, but it is something of a 
task to search carefully a piece of timber of 
this extent, and after a long and diligent 
hunt I began to think that my collection 
would not be enriched by the eggs of Nyctala 
Acadica. On approaching an old beech stub 
I was suddenly surprised to see the round 
head of an Owl looking down at me from an 
old Woodpecker’s hole twenty feet from the 
ground. At this sight my spirits went up 
and at the same time my coat and vest came 
off and I prepared to “ shin ” up to the 
■ ! nest. Perhaps some of you know how easy 
it is to shin a tree that the bark has peeled 
1 from and left smooth as a flag staff. Add to 
this the fact that the stub was two feet in 
diameter and it is not very surprising that I 
j came down suddenly after an ascent of eight 
or ten feet. I also discovered after two trials 
that the tree would not be safe for anyone to 
climb to the top of, as it leaned quite a little 
Ij and was nearly rotted off at the base. This 
put a different aspect on the matter, and I 
j began to devise some way by which to get 
the eggs which I felt sure were waiting for 
me at the bottom of that old nest. 
I decided that I should want at least a 
j rope and an axe ; so I went home and got 
these articles and returned with a man to 
assist me. The first thing was to put the 
rope around the tree and take a loop in it, 
| then push the rope as far up the tree as we 
; could reach with a pole, nearly twenty feet, 
OOLOGIST. 
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been past the nest since and do not know 
whether the Owl kept on laying in the same 
nest, but shall visit it in the spring and hope 
to find her at home. It was surprising how 
the Owl returned to the nest after being 
thrown off -at least five times and robbed of 
her eggs three different times. Each time 
she followed the same course, crouching to 
the bottom of the nest and fighting for her 
treasures, and after being thrown off would 
dash past within a few inches of my head, 
trying to frighten me away. 
I took a set of Red-bellied Nuthatch in 
much the same manner as the Owls’ nest. 
It was in a shaky fir stub, about twenty feet 
up, and would not begin to bear my weight, 
so I took along a boy weighing about sixty 
pounds. I cut a small fir sapling, which 
reached nearly to the nest, and held it up 
against the stub while the boy scrambled up. 
He then rested on the top of the sapling 
while he whittled out the nest and took eight 
fresh eggs. In taking a set of broad-winged 
Hawk from a huge birch it was necessary to 
carry a twenty-five foot ladder a mile. Two 
fresh and handsomely marked eggs made 
this a very satisfactory piece of work. The 
way of the collector is hard and fraught with 
many difficult and dangerous climbs, but 
when success has crowned your efforts it is 
pleasant to think how some of your treasures 
were earned. Fred B. Spaulding. 
Lancaster, N.H. _ 
O.aO.Vol.18, Ang. 1898 p. 113-113 
