ORNTTnoLOniST 
[Vol. 6-Nf). 4. 
L^G 
which certainly f^ave grounds on which to 
base a supposition of their nesting. June 
7th, lH7i), while collecting, I raj)ped on an 
Ash tree having a decayed top in which 
were some Woodpecker's holes, and was 
surprised to see a male Yellow-belly issue 
from one of them. On climbing up I coiild 
distinctly hear the hissing noise made by 
the young birds in their nest. I left it un¬ 
disturbed being somewhat disapi)ointcd in 
failing to procure a set of eggs, biding my 
time, however, in hopes that the pair of 
birds might use it the ensuing spring. On 
IMay 2.')th, 1880. I visited the j)lace again 
and on pounding the tree saw a Y'ellow. 
bellied Woodpecker tly from the old nest¬ 
ing place, so climbing uj) and cutting it 
out, I found tw'o eggs perfectly fresh. 
This was undoubtedly not the nxuuber of 
eggs the female would have laid, had she 
been midisturbed. June Kith, following, 
thought I would examine the tree again, as 
I had some time observed that when a 
Woodpecker has a set of eggs taken from 
its nest that it will simply deepen the hole 
and lay again. This proved to be the case 
in this instance, for the hole had been 
deepened some three inches, and on the 
soft chips at the bottom lay four eggs 
slightly incubated. They are imniiiculate, 
as are all Woodjmekers’ eggs, and average 
about .87 inch by .7(1 inch. The original 
hole was about 20 feet from the ground, 
and probably 8 inches deep. Entrance 
was so small that the birds on going in or 
coming out would sometimes have to wig¬ 
gle considerably before passing through. 
The tree was in a swamjjy place. 
This is the first instance of which I have 
heard of the eggs of this bird being found 
in Central New York. It undoubtedly 
breeds sparing!}', but its nest seems to be 
very hard to discover, on account of the 
few individuals remaining to breed. 
I would l)ei)leased to know of any other 
occurrence of their nesting in this section. 
S. F. ll.vTHBCUN, Aubuni, N. Y. 
—~ - 
.\sk your friends to sul)scribe for this 
m ig.i/.ine. and thereby help the cause. 
Bubo Virginianus. 
ITS NESTING H.^BITS, ETC. 
In an earlier copy of the Oologist, (See 
Yol. 5, No. 7, iiage 40,) is given an account 
of the nesting of a ^lair of Great Horned 
Owls. As I have this year, (1881) taken 
eggs from the nest of the pair of birds 
above referred to, I will continue the ac¬ 
count. The nest which I found Aj)ril (ith, 
1880, then contained two young birds. 
Being even then too late for eggs, I this 
year ascended to the nest on March llth, 
but found it deserted and badly weath¬ 
er beaten. There was then about one 
foot of snow on the ground and snow¬ 
ing hard. A short distance oft’ in the next 
grove the same pair of birds had built a 
new nest for themselves in the toj) of a pine 
tree, over sixty feet from the ground, and 
not a limb on the tree beneatli fifteen feet 
from the nest. After a very laborious 
climb (I had not my climbing irons with 
me) I looked over the edge of the nest and 
was very much surjirised to see four eggs 
therein. The number laid by this bird is 
two and very rarely three. This mystery 
however was solved after a little study, as 
follows. Two of the eggs were in the 
middle of the nest, and sunk about two 
thirds their depth into the lining, and were 
much discolored from being in contact 
with the wet moss and cedar bark. AVhen 
blowing them they showed about seven 
days incubation, but were badly addled. 
As the bird had flown from the nest while 
I was under the tree, this might seem 
strange. The other two eggs were a trifle 
smaller, but (piite free from any stains, 
and were cpiite fresh. From the position 
of the eggs in the nest, and the condition 
of their contents I came to the following 
conclusion : That the first two eggs were 
laid on one of tlie last days of February, 
and after about one week's incubation, 
were wet or frozen while the adult birds 
were from the nest, and therefore spoiled 
and were <leserted, l»ut rather than give up 
the nest, the birds had made an attemj)t to 
covtr these and had laid another set in 
