April, 1889.] 
AND OOLOGIST. 
53 
A Collecting Experience with Great 
Horned Owls and Swainson’s 
Hawk. 
Three miles north of the village of Berna- 
dotte lies about a half section of enclosed 
timber and brush land, so rough and cut up 
by hills and hollows that the former owners 
have not considered it worth the outlay of 
labor required to clear it up for agricultural 
uses. All the large timber has been cut down 
and removed, except where it is growing in 
deep hollows. This locality is a favorite col- 
lecting ground of mine, and from it each 
season I obtain two or more sets of hawks’ or 
owls’ eggs. 
Having previously, in my night rides, heard 
owls hooting in these woods, I started on a 
search for nests late in the day of February 8, 
1888. There was a keen north-west wind full 
of flying snow, with the thermometer register- 
ing close to zero. 
Knowing the natural inclination of the 
Bubos to occupy the same nesting place or 
locality for several seasons, I went straight to 
a nest in a leaning white oak tree, from which 
in 1887 I collected a set of three Great Horned 
Owl’s eggs. As I came to the brow of the hill, 
the nest far below was at once seen to be occu- 
pied. The tree on the upper side was covered 
with a thick coat of ice, but, with the aid of a 
pair of sharp climbers, the ascent was made 
without much difficulty, except very cold 
Angers. The owl did not leave the nest until 
one-half the distance to it was climbed, which 
led me to suspect young birds. But this fear 
luckily was not to be realized, for in the nest 
were found three eggs very much stained and 
soiled. Although the female remained near by 
hooting and snapping her bill, the male did 
not put in an appearance. 
The eggs were put in a mitten to which a 
cord was attached, and lowered safely to the 
ground. On blowing, they were found to be 
about one-half incubated, and by a thorough 
application of soap and warm water the stains 
and dirt were removed, until they were as 
white and handsome a set as one would wish 
to see. 
Returning to these woods on March 14tli, I 
set to work searching for Buteos ’ nests, having 
a few days previously located a pair flying 
about over the locality. After getting fairly 
on the collecting ground, a twenty minutes’ 
search located the nest, the bird occupying it. 
It was situated on a side hill, about eighteen 
feet up, in a scrub white oak. 
The female left the nest as soon as I dis- 
covered it, and flew across the creek bottom to 
a dead tree three hundred yards away, where 
she was immediately joined by the male. I 
quickly discovered from the appearance, flight 
and action of the birds that they were not the 
Buteo borealis which I had expected to find, 
and a little later when they came flying around 
close overhead I recognized them as Buteo 
swainsoni. The male was the handsomer of 
the two, smaller and more trimly built. The 
band across the throat and breast was much 
brighter, and he was also much more active 
and aggressive than the female. 
The climb was an easy one, and in the nest 
were found three eggs, fresh and clean. They 
are greenish-white, with flakes of brown and 
umber, appearing as though these markings 
had been brushed over, making them indistinct. 
The nest was a bulky affair composed of 
sticks, weed stalks, grass leaves, corn husks 
and a few feathers. After noting down a de- 
scription of it in my collectors’ book, the eggs 
were put in a mitten and lowered safely to the 
ground. The action of the male during this 
interval was interesting and novel. 
From the dead tree across the valley he 
would start toward me as straight as an arrow 
from the bow, screaming fiercely every few 
seconds. But just when an attack seemed in- 
evitable, and I had prepared to duck my head 
behind the nest, his courage would suddenly 
fail, and veering off he would return to his 
mate on the dead tree, only to repeat the per- 
formance after an interval of a few minutes. 
Two or three times the female started with 
him, on the assault from the dead tree, but 
after flying a short distance would return. 
Having watched them as long as I coidd, 
and it beginning to grow dusk, I returned to 
the ground and secured the eggs, and the owl 
tree being but a short distance away I con- 
cluded to make a quick run to it, not, however, 
with much hope of making a second find. 
Going over the ridge that intervened between 
the hawk’s and owl’s nest, the latter came in 
sight, and I saw at once by the ear tufts ap- 
pearing over the edge that it was occupied, and 
as I came nearer the big yellow eyes looked 
down at me as though they would say : “ What ! 
you here again !” Without waiting for an in- 
vitation to do so, she left the nest, and I fan- 
cied that I could see despair and disgust in her 
every movement. Quickly running up to the 
nest I again found it contained three eggs. 
This time they were clean and fresh. 
Bernadotte, ill. Dr. W. S. Strode. 
/SG 
° & 0 . XIV. Apr. 1889 p.53 
