Ue retige an Us 2U RO UN BR Uslel bele lb N 9 
landed on his head. An owl had struck as it saw the rabbit-skin cap bobbing 
along through the woods. Frantic calls brought help hurrying from the 
bunk houses, but before the owl could be beaten off its talons had pierced 
one of the victim’s eyes, damaged the other so that it was a question 
whether it could be saved, and otherwise badly lacerated his face and hands. 
He was helped back to the camp and everything that inexperienced men 
could do for him was done. No doctor was on the island, and here the radio 
played its part. 
A call to Grand Rapids was relayed to the Department of Conservation 
at Lansing and they ordered one of their cutters to make the run to Isle 
Royale and bring out the unfortunate young man. This was done, and with 
his departure ended the connection of both radio operators with the story 
and all chance of further details. How did the victim fare? We do not 
know. What kind of owl was it? We do not know, but a fair inference from 
the season and locality would be that it was either a great horned or a 
snowy owl. Mr. Babcock received in recognition from the Department of 
Conservation a letter expressing their very warm appreciation of his 
assistance. 
ft ft Ft 
Nesting Notes on the Black-Capped Chickadee 
By VERNA R. JOHNSTON 
DURING THE spring of 1940 and of 1941 I discovered two nests of the black- 
capped chickadee along the Sangamon River near Decatur, Illinois. One 
nest was used for two weeks and then deserted (due chiefly to pressure 
exerted by a pair of house wrens), but a successful brood was reared in 
the second nest and detailed observations were made of its progress. These 
observations were made as a part of graduate work in zoology at the 
University of Illinois under the supervision of Dr. S. Charles Kendeigh and 
are here summarized and discussed. 
The nest was located in a dead stump, five feet high, in an old wood- 
pecker hole eight inches from the top. The stump stood on the bank of a 
creek in a floodplain forest, with several large trees close by, all of which 
were used by the birds in approaching. 
The nest was made of down, dried grasses, and feathers; a thin layer 
of this material lined the bottom and sides of the cavity. Seven eggs were 
laid by the chickadee, all of them tan in color with scattered reddish-brown 
blotches. 
The eggs were laid between April 18 and April 22, and hatched on 
May 9, 1941. During the first two weeks of incubation one bird was on the 
nest about 45 minutes out of every hour, and away from the nest about 
15 minutes. It was fed by the mate on an average of once every 20 to 25 
minutes. The mate always approached calling soft “Phoe-bes,’”’ and would 
usually perch on a limb 10 to 20 feet from the nest singing “Phoe-be” three 
or four times before it flew to the hole, stuck in its head, fed the incubating 
bird, and*flew away. When it was time for the bird to leave the nest, the 
mate would approach calling ‘“Phoe-be” and sit on a limb nearby and call 
