/Yt,% j y

O Al

u

Ui

//, /arsrsr.

/>t\ ^ /Ituurw.

'y ^ /

f\v> ?fr^ *-«/

«^4*> ^

m.

a

ri» /^-A /■

ot aux.tii' mv — .

//jrfy^fcr,

h*^*A ^ w l "

O^AJW^

*LS^*JLy *S /"'**-£ < ?*^'

X iw. ^»< v

«i

^ Mj W^U» ^MHfc-4,

Iv

/ - - cyG_.,

j y£^y^zr

£7&L^- ^r -z-i,^ — z^t^_ ^

yr^Se^ ^y--g^yy

■ ‘ '^^ uy-* / *nc&-a' -^y^--^-yg^y

yfy y?y

y^y^yy ^y-&z£ yf^'.y^

y*-^*^-j~ y%^~ . ^cg-cg y^ .

yjy y.

<=*2^

y*y y^ycy e*-t?^*i ^

c^y y£y yfr^pyS y^^ ^ yy*<?~ y'

sy^trzyy&gyy,

y&Zg-e*-

yzZig'is sl<^ *?fc<^-

]am . /: i. a)

6 -cL^l,

6 Tv

6 ~Jc

yzytA,

i; J f *\ v

< rA

ja38 8** » n i >’ l B!^ ^

i imzuasm

■'; ■// TSES^BSSKaSWSS

JCa

V.,

/<§* A^ 2 '

(a; FEB 19 <5

\% 7 -PM^
V% .c^

vy ,’qcaa

NlKft 6

oanburv;

963! A Mule Bird. By W. E. D. Scott. /Wrf., Jan. 15, p. 4S4. — A
cross between Colafites mexicanus and C. chrysoides. (Originally pub- __

| _ ished in the ‘Arizona Daily Star,’ Tucson, Dec. 16, i 884 .)-# 0 ff*^k gjtr©a 31 » XA-iil

Sunny So.Oologlst.1507- yttea-sHafted BUcker and Rocky Mountain Screech Owl.\ By Atlk tt-., -
— Fred. M. Dille. Ibid., p. 39. — -Nesting in the eaves of a house. 18*00 VO

145 ^RATTLE jSTREET,

Pambridge, y\A ASS.

/•^ . /? t /w

. jj.

1 Oh ltd-

1 ^ *j *«-**-***r

a. Uty-U-,*'*"’ J *~~ * ~

jL-4. /*".- 8 ~zr ^

,t fKiy+it^ 4rvir *•» —

A v ^

/..„-^f f^u*t w *7

/C ^fcT ■»—

«

«aXA/

V /~-

iC^lt^K, «A - ^Wvi '4 ^vyJP _

_ ^

»P^jtJvAj i'A Vi4>t, t4 * r «^* tf^wvj

*

aJLm^ *Z^\ <fr O^vj

*V^

qanbuhv

0ON^<

963. A Mule Bird. By W. E. D. Scott. Ibid., Jan. 15, p. 484.— A
cross between Colafttes mexicanus and C. chrysoides. (Originally pub- , 'V. T f T

— . ished in the ‘Arizona Daily Star,’ Tucson, Dec. 16, 1884. )— A Ste©& 01 » X

Sunny So. OologISt.lS° 7 - yRed-s/taJted Slicker and Rocky Mountain Screech Owl.\ By «„> w» -
-- ^Fred. M. Dille. Ibid. , p. 39. — Nesting in the eaves of a house. 1800 V <7

J .

/ j\ A

fUv t'tvv, VVv ~yx* ^ TXZa a/u *y*-*A^

A o^A ft* **~ '*

^VVn 1 /W^v_

/ /kUl~~ /h~^*i

XV Av

laRK

' f >'V. ,.

A ,,'jpi *T*\

* ' ' J» V- i

I.. A

/a FEB 19 < 5 \

VV“ PM #

t7 /aai#

?l:

f >VEPTtsee °

IMR 6

oanbor- ooNt4,

9 "

!

963. A Mule Bird. BjW. E. D. Scott. Ibid.] Jan. 15, p. 484. — A
cross between Colaftes mexicanus and C. chrysoides. (Originally pub-
j — ished in the ‘Arizona Daily Star,’ Tucson, Dec. 16, 1884. )— IjPQSfa MS fSt/SS&IE* 3 “

Sunny So.OolOgist.1507- L fea-shaped flicker and tfocky Mountain Screech Owl. 1 Byi„v rrit t

T-Ulla rr.:n „ „„ .. „ , ^ AUK, V II. Jfill.

Fred. M. Dille. Ibid., p. 39. — Nesting in the eaves ofa he

i 8 eo.p,v< 7 .

December 9 , 1892 .]

SCIENCE.

several improvements in apparatus and methods of experiment
have already been made, one on the time of action and the fatigue
of monocular accommodation, another on the rapidity of move-
ment of the arm under the conditions present while writing,
anothefton the reaction-time to tones as dependent on pitch, in-
tensity, duration, etc.

The ample accommodations furnished by the fifteen rooms, the
three months of energetic preparation dining the summer, the
high scientific stand taken in regard to research, the wise pat-
ronage of Professor Ladd and the enthusiasm of the young inves-
tigators lead us to hope that the first.! ear will see us with a recog-
nized standing, second only to Wundt's laboratory at Leipzig.
Nevertheless, tbere'are many difficulties to be overcome; the
work of instruction really requires as full an equipment as a ] hy-
sical laboratory; moreover, research is the most expensive kind
of work, thus putting a great strain on the appropriation. It
would be a very great help if some one or more friends would
undertake to support or aid some one of the researches, setting any
desired amount as the limit beyond which the expenses are to be
paid by the laboratory. We have already received considerable
aid in our work: Professor Ladd h^s given the laboratory his
valuable collection of charts and models and a microscope; a
friend has donated $75 for electric forks required in one of the
researches; the B. F. Sturtevant Co. has -sent a rotary blower;
the Electric Gas Lighting Co. of Boston has sent a dozen Samson
batteries; the Aluminium Brass and Bronze Co. of Bridgeport has
made us a dozen discs twelve inches in diameter; the Boston
Woven Hose and Rubber Co. has furnished soma, of their cross-
stitched rubber belting ; E. B. Meyrowitz has sent a set of test-
cards, etc. More of such help would be thankfully received ; at
present we need a i horse-power motor, a spark coil, etc. Pos-
sibly the day is not far distant when an endowment will be made
for a separate building and a full equipment of apparatus.

HYBRIDISM EXEMPLIFIED IN THE GENUS COLAPTES.

BY SAMUEL N._RHOADS, ACADEMY OF NATURAL SCIENCES, PHILA-
DELPHIA.

Perhaps the most widespread and persistent tendency to
hybridism that exists among the higher vertebrates to-day is to
be found in this American genus of woodpeckers. The birds re-
sponsible for such a slate of affairs are well known in their re-
spective habitats as flickers, the eastern species being named the
yellow-shafted flicker ( Colaptes auratvs), and its western con-
gener, the red- shafted flicker (Colaptes cafer) by naturalists.

It early became known to explorers in the upper Missouri and
Yellowstone regions of this country that where the habitats of
these red- and yellow- shafted birds adjoin there often occurred
individuals partaking the characters of both species. Audubon
described in the appendix to his “North American Birds,” a
flicker from this region, with the yellow shafts and red nape of
auratus combined with the red mustaches of cafer, as a distinct
species, naming it Pious ayresii; but as more specimens were se-
cured it became evident that these intermediate birds were not
constant in character and their numbers were too great to be ex-
plained by any other theory than that they were the offspring of
distinct species and were hybrids. Professor Baird enunciated
this idea in 1858, classing for convenience all these nondescripts
under the distinctive name of Co’aptes hybridus , and asserting
that their existence could be satisfactorily accounted for in no
other way. The amount of material on which he based his
theory, however, was small enough to warrant other theories,
Mr. J. A. Allen attributing the existence of so-called “ hybridus ”
to the “ action of environment in accordance with certain laws
of geographic variation,” and later Mr. Ridgway suggested they
were ‘ 1 remnants of a generalized form from which two incipient
species have been differentiated.” Dr. Coues, in 1884, thought
the mixed birds might constitute “ perhaps a hybrid and perhaps
a transitional form,” while Hargitt, in the British Museum Cata-
logue, makes the intermediates a race with the nominal status of
a species under the Audubonian name of ayresii , admitting them
to have been originally the result of a mixed union, showing pos-
sibly a “ sign of reversion to remote ancestral plumage.”

325

Last year (1891) Mr. J. A. Allen made the relationships of the
whole genus the subject of an exhaustive study. The results of
his examination are given in full in Yol. IV. of the Bulletin of
the New York Museum of Natural History and being inaccessible
to the genera] reader may be briefly summed as follows: —

1. Mixed birds show no stages of geographic variation com-
parable with those connecting species and sub-species. In the
latter the transition is gradual, symmetrical, and correlated with
change of environment, but in Colaptes the intergradation is ir-
regular, often asymmetrical and without such correlation.

2. Very unlike birds have been found to breed together; di-
verse offspring being reared in the same nest by parents indif-
ferently exhibiting normal or abnormal characters irrespective of
sex. But so far typical cafer and auratus have not been found
paired together.

3. On either side of the boundary of one thousand miles, along
which their habitats adjoin, the influence of one species upon the
other fades imperceptibly’ eastward and westward till it disap-
pears.

4. The main area of hybrid distribution covers a belt of country
two hundred miles wide and reaching nortb-westwardly from the
Gulf-coast of Texas through Colorado, Wyoming, Montana,
northern Idaho and Washington and the southern half of British
Columbia to the Pacific, extending from southern Alaska to the
mouth of the Columbia River. South and west of this the habi-
tat of true cafer reaches from the Columbia to Tehuantepec,
while north and east of it pure auratus ranges, over an area four
times as great, from Florida to Hudson’s Bay and from Labrador
to Behring Sea.

5. Formerly, collections from certain parts of the far West,
notably California and Nevada, were wanting in hybrids, but
now they have become so common in some localities that thor-
oughbred birds are the exception. This favors the assumption
that auratus is extending its range into the cafer region, and
the absence of such an invasion of mixed individuals northward
indicates that the transmigration is in the historic direction, from
north to south.

This, with a few interpolations of my own sums up the evi-
dence which has induced Mr. Allen and the majority of orni-
thologists to adopt Baird’s theory to its fullest extent.

To this I wish to add a few supplementary remarks based on a
collection of flickers made this year in British Columbia. As
this series was chiefly collected in the breeding period we are re-
lieved of the complications caused by the winter migration of
Alaskan auratus into the region and can rely on the specimens as
representing the domestic relations of the group.

Perhaps nowhere is the proportion of hybrids to pure-bred birds
greater than on the Island of Vancouver. The dark, north-
western form of cafer found here has so thoroughly assimilated
the characters of auratus that cafer is the exception and c afer-
auratus the rule. Nevertheless, pure auratus is very rare on the
island. I have no specimens of it, but Mr. Fannin of the Vic-
toria Museum has one, and Mr. Maynard of the same city states
they are sometimes numerous in the fall. I am, however, from
the absence of such specimens in collections, inclined to discount
this statement, in the belief that they will prove to be of impure
origin also. Indeed it is doubtful if there is much association,
much less admixture, of thoroughbred individuals of the two
species either with each other or with hybrids at the present day,
many which appear pure, especially among the females, being
of impure extraction.

Comparing the results of an examination of seventy skins, con-
tained in the collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences of
Philadelphia from debatable territory in the west and north-
west, with the deductions given in Mr. Allen’s admirable paper,
the following general remarks seem in order : —

1. The prevailing tendency among hybrid flickers is in the di-
rection of a symmetrical assumption of the characters of both
species, examples of asymmetric coloration being rarely present
and chiefly confined to the females.

3. A much larger percentage of male than female birds show
mixed parentage. This indicates either that hybridism in this
case results in an overproduction of males or a disparity in the

Eastern Massachusetts.

/m , .

u a. , . u. a. ti. ^ u a. *~t rzr^ < 54 %

Wy S±J!r /Jii fiml A* 1 - H L , V 1 !Yf* toc^j-if^j-a 1 - 2- /J -.UK U l 3W

' &d~ j,r tv. U Si , <?«• ft - , st- ti. fc,. ks.v- H _ /ww

j— aisk ft Ki 6 - iw. a, r_ /a ^ /J 2 » 77 T- r t 7 : iw .

M. U. ' ,

/(>*-. to i jm. i s -. 3 ? .ja

J 14 -' JO' «?/* Cr^c^ JL/tfX.

/'_ pk^/i^) /o>3 //'-/z7/y'-(?i Zd'-Zl'- 3/ - JJrfJ

1 iff. .tW/ /

//'

firurrtt./

fm

^ Oyl c*n/X>-t*Sl ^ 1/ 1st sts-^JuA. (L

JuLj <t-. r nK/j\U L .3l± HtfO

z p /J\ 2 / - 2J - 22-. . //-' / /) /j

i/i/3 , ~/yl<Z7'-£k , -JL ?-' 3/3 AA.

SjfX i¥'-We.£r'±Vjli.

/- 3 ' ir-iz' M' 3 o- q^^L/jrfji

3®.y '- / 1 // ' A '_ Jmand./W.

SL

Cik^s^r^A-

CovwCffyC

to /ri/ ? 7 3 P- /x ' /m n*W*rnzn*n& /tr?y

Ph. (XAsCsP,

&L- h/*

$tuu4& H -ffiuk fceL J*/ P (3d, Ce*'

/ 3 (U/- / 7 ®_ A 2 ( ^A 11 i ' Vt *- X* r 3( " 1 7 ‘/K7J .

/Jrz?

(W

2" ^ ' 7*//:/Z '/3:/9- A"//7 Vf; 2/; Z3pU7^9 ' < J~w 4rc

£L

. 2- n 1 17‘ 3o 3 Mi A> y / /nr/

1 * 7 ' 2 " £ - /- 7 -' A * // 77 7 j - /A 2 $ --

/®7Z/o'j/L/j'„(y'-/s3 IA~J kf.Z-xJ.3 32S', Z(>'-Z?L 30 1 AtW . AA

A.

^ • <

7- /i- /r/7

6 - 7 -: /<yz.y J 72 -' /r/^

T A27Z 722 m

5 ) 6 a.

^ 4

’-pv-* •"A
~rr

‘ (s? -r / - ' v '

J

l$m

7

& (jl

Cm\UUG\j£—

Oj^l jr'l ^ <U)ll§? IMf £*^/lU<* /P/fyj^nii.xr' c ^^j . / /Y'lf

In

T

/O' //i /^ liUiAK^ U '&&*? X 7 1

M s x t L 30^ c^xpp

CUiaiZC /if (h*#*! it' „ AiMh.lt-

3m IX' ^ ' ' X7ia»*iA Uv^yx L /V9X

, C '~ J “7 . OL. £’£»w & £M jm -

4^b*j3- 7 L u'/z' IP at- iKjs r <c‘\r-ixmi

* i floJXt & CtX .

|t f -?,. /^

#<UJU &v»x 3.4- 3^-

J'^ 71 / 3 - l%' la®3/:£~^x /fr/ST

/ ML.

mi ^

/I !f X Cr^i L /Sf93T.

KtTo*jJx*w £ «^ u ^'

w: _/*r - 2 # j$/P\ /W 7

J 7 ! 7 a / 7 ±nf L zo- xh '- u ' mr //-i / 2. *~~L 2 0 - 3 /_ *-»t~i- (2/-c^ _ Cx-x^OrM. /m

„ ^ / ?^ i 4r, 7 /?£& #*- /I s HT'7f r Xo~' Coti /spy /7- £/ L 7frti

1^ '/^T/i^Sww-^ /VfK h '^r A*y&r /^i

/$ O-CAT^V /f ho-Af-t^L

'V Il.t^; Z 7^ ^ W>

feu

/ VT j h’Uk'H

k

7

- ^ drS ,/ ‘!- ’ ^ ■? - £jCt * v %} *!fO f d f iy i)y.y /£ J !i-t Ajy*,, y^Xf. i-x. t li ( "

'/- t 'tiirh ^ w^i*V / W ^Wi^i 'Vt - 5 *u! C.d*+* O^i 'Rt^. ytCtff" £%~x 'UutAT

tiSA^^CST £,wv fyJtAj " w 'ti\ c \, C-0 ££*■■&£*, t f W"!^Uu t-s/ ^Vi4. /^>t

fhc^CU '•'! Wv^ t. V i v cv?t ~/sa&*a-9& 1 J 'W'tXZ, A- APt £/ Ct, i^Vv jA *yyl

< V t'V' n. TP /4fi^ ^ v ' , /^Li. ' - c?

WCtrf

/ . f

/ L.**' ^ ^ 4 i, ; ’. '>■ yl'.rk.- ’ .4 J Pi.itf ■yP—

tfv/y S~*\AL it* A*b-6t. &<^L A A*} M J <"•»*• ^'i^K<“«

y Tfc / !4vUv^ $£***. Jd ,

^/ l*-**-f iArhPXi. WTrvwwi ^v4j(. (!u>w«»y ^Bx-Ww?,

^U>M « yy> r> -/ ^l\4 " 'VwA A*- <s-2^^w «

l/<-C-M>_ / to , _ Ac

"tuV^C.

i3 ^o-va >^ _ 6~\^- if/TZ^, &v-i r^<- </^ v

~~frC\^ OV~KX \ J «=^V CK-^. /^fxAA ,

Ay

At

*C =\^

It

<^Uy>A

w

A-

^TtlX '

> (

t-ui_ ^ 4M-

‘^v ^t-

l^y -J^'aA A- ~~£v *yo

/ . 1 * ^ ^ A / '

r*^A /&^<A > //x^6Af <Ala

'Z&y ** Miy

72^. AA

~f

Ck^j / 0 ifl ( 1^ v- k (/.< ! i <U^ Jx^K^yy. i / i/\JLjy\^ (f^-*A^AyJ t f-x< /A. ^ v*y-j

M J5of> /j\j

C^ V\_<_ ^TA; A ^t-A&C\yAs<^> &~ l - y 2- \ c/^A-4

4 rx/AjL '*'- Ayt-ly /L cjx_ o-v- 1 -_V ulAx^C^. J

<L*

-VA^iy’

/I » ,7 ,?•- 'tA

£T

A *v

y /?

.-/'vw^ d-A~

y<^

/'-v^<-? 2) > A &-*—%. A.

6

^•*-•1^4 $'s-~'£ ^ At j/ tst-'ii "A

^ UyfZZ

yu*2~y »^‘<
/*Af~ ifA^i/ .

////

AA ^ ^ <ri as<^iaL - . AA ^

^^vxIaTS^C ^ vty{ ^^trv-y' ^Ur+4\, f if Ixsy-^. < CA'^- 'y’

Copied from Journ

ivj . lx f i S fcl.C ii U 6 1 rs ,

1892 .

zza^zzazz . ‘/Zf./y

V

€4ZZZ

/^rZ Zlzd 0Z2^ZZzz*f ^zzzZzd

J~ ~ z&Z?Z'ZiZZ'Z?zd . ZZZ^ z^dz /fctfl' ^<^*2 _

ZlZZZzZd zfaZ&^f' ZZ^VZZ^ /d&e^- ^ a£z?x£
Xzz <Z%zA? zdz^dzezj? /£~/z£z JzzAz&

jptzZz£i^' zfzz &<? yt^^g/ ^ . zd^ £Z&**ZS

/?Z£ xZ^ZZz/^d s&£&jf X&z7^£tZ70'-Z&&iZ

7%t£ ^/'Zz^r^ Jz^Zczzd&s z^cX/Z^' a> jzdxdzZzxxAZ <A*.. -zzzr£s*0
^zz^^pZ^A z : ^^2&ds' z&z- (J? tZtrzz^Z^ siz/^

ZZpX /gAZZ^y^ZZ^y y^ZZzZ^ X&X&Z

'ZZZ^&Z' A&p^p&tzdzM' Z2^S^/Z>ZZ J&ZZiZ ^p4^.

/ZrtZsZ SZZ' /Z'Z'ppZ yzd^22ZZAXAA^d ^Z&ZZz XzdxZ /p&4Z?-

TZ^rxz (J-y^sZazz^ x^zxf'/dzzdzs^
pz//ZZZZ Slfd/7Z6gs
/Z4AzZzz/z& c / aazzz^ AMzZ y Z2>

2%zz> zzA^^ ^dZzpf' /zi' /}, ^xygzxzx z^Zzzizzzy^ yz/zrxtZ' tzz/z
pp- Ad\/z>zZzZ^ ^zzZ Tzzt/ z%z&*S /’l/xzdzx^' Jjg'
zZz^^/^zZiiZ^ aw fide* xzzxxzydtA* p' Zzdz f£%Z s/zz^sZ/zf

/ f / 22%& zMazJ^ jbr***'

/?t<x/~ z/ ^xzz a^/zz^z^ /&z^z4CddiZLs zZxt-Zy ^Lk cs^ xS* AZzZZuA&^A
<2/ zdzZ%z 2z<z^rdtz-Z'' Ztzzzzz zzz-zzz- /zsrz^dzZ' tZ^zzZ'dfr . J&Ziz JZ^zzf^
/dc^f^czzdzzzf { /dzzzz /f-KtZ-tZ /2ZZ^ /sx yzS /zZzx ZZ-'/zdzZ' ^ ZfZzrsz

y) // t iZZlS J/ZZ-ZZ^ Xzz ZZ ZZS'Zzd^Z't <2> zZZZSXZZzt' zfzi^e^ zfzzzzdzzc-

yfc fa. *7 dPztZLzZ^S Juz&- /d> J* SZzX'Z^/ Z>/fZZ?Z' /^ZAzzZzo

/zdzY/- XZZZ^ZXtX^f ,2zZZzZ&S Zjdzt-t^'i- J /2ZZ%Z&zZ^' ^/-C /d/-- ^Z^Zf’d^iY ft/.'

sZZZZZy^ zz/zzzz^ zz/ytzzfzzyy^/ ^Z^ZjZ-z^Zy jdtZ AXA 0 /)-' Z%xc^ T^cZ ZZZtzZ?
^-/2-uZd ZZ z z^zZ' z2ZzdzA~ ^XZXZy zfyzZ Z^x/ /Zctz^ j/t^ZdzZ ^aZZZzd

^ZiTZ'ZZ /t^Zy AZ2A2y Z 3 2Zz/zt^ZzZ^' ZZ^cZ^d ,Zytz -i&jZc' ZZZcz^ Z?Z&Z —

ZZ/Z/lZ^Z ZZ'f /yZyZZZA J^Z^ZZtyCZd /ZZ^tZztZ^ y^z JzZZ%&*^Z

/d'/Z^Z' cd Z’f TZyZzdczzd AzZZZy /r y '*^"^" s’''""*-"' zh *

{fzAizAiy
Zf/Zz'Z'tz'y dd~ jdz tZZZZ'

/o

Copied from Journal,

j.aBsachusotto,

.892,

JL Z’J/zTW' <p0

'/atwUZ's

4?^ 0^20 ^^/^'Y/'^f a77

0Z^-O£;, 7&S 70ZZZ447 ^ 04ZZ4Z /T^ 02Z&246 4^4 /z^Tz/zf

/4*ZZt 7 22 yt&z^' /? 07t4^

zV^TxS /F^.

2 0S&& Z2^Zjx 7 /Z2*rf?t2>4£ —

fzdctzZ / 2&fZ4s 72^ j^0ZZ*z0 Ss-f^nr JfT t?/in^kg& 4^4 /Pfd^i

^?a2- *7 /^^€ C j^&£ 7&4S^ 72*4 7?st3y7%4? /Z-^csT’

^^2200 &>■ ' zZ^rZ^ tZTjrz^rrZ' 7^22

02<22M^0 s£4f^^Z<7&^s4£^*&6' /TTb'

02zy^Z20 /44 y^2Z2 22^/ J7222J

faz# /yt/227' zzS^ y4zz2/z^^7z4t0^77^^ /Z^T^zt'gi&zT?. '

rf 227,0^ ya^z 27 022^2^2^42 0^2^27 J0 4^2^^

" 77 2&7 22£7 y^

jL-J 2 ^Z'Zzy/^. 7^0^y 2^22^z^ s^277z 2& jTz^-rz

0? aTzzT/ ^z-c ^^z^t-ctf , *^^47 0&Z2& ^7^427224 2^

^ t^Zrj£7& i&osTj' 22702^70 ^^7^02^ 02ou7>

zTy z£c2£ 0222222 y7/^zzz>cy'^ Z222^t27^ery 0 ' sjzz£ tT^s,

44: ^4 2S. 77,,

2?22 / 2' /ri^tZZ- 7^/4z 0222*2>^4z2if 772^^

^zJLzz^Z^yr /7/r^y 0772* <z^, £&?jz^cs p&&z722?*77'- :

<0^^02^20220 0%y^ 0%22* 4202Z7Z00& 7z4 71044 04*7240 <0 /4&
zZizzlZ' zZttcT^T' ^42 T^^T*****^^ 020 Z^4z* S&0 / 0

^ 0<t 0-4 0762-Z227. J? T&ftVzU* <*■ 0V140

z?r 4*7 m4cu* T^Z /UUZZstffai' 00 &4 u 4*^0 7f yl&zsz^r ^

Copied from Journal.

~ r" ^ x.,^ ^ ^ sX'

1 tiri s <t cli U.s 1> 1 1 16 ,

1892.

zX&f'AZZ', X

2£s^2 A£e

?/'t2^zXzz2'XX*X szX sz X/z^X 2/ X^X

/Z^/^2 J*XXX /rrr j&eX fr sz^z X2

_XcXf A~ Xf2 JSZZ'/X, X /2-^Z' /^^A-XzfX' jXsXjX/ZZ'^^
a/Xz/XzZZ' /?z ^X /tzZ' zz/T / 44szv^ r X /Zfz& fZ,

XXzXX ^/Z-Zz^X ^24226^2 XzZz^y £4/220 X-2~ X*X&>

I

(Concord, Mass.

1397.

April

A single bird seen near Ball's Hill at intervals during
the month. On April 30th two appeared together for the first
time. They spent more than an hour in the afternoon flying
bach and forth over the land, 200 or 300 ft. up, rattling in-
cessantly. What did this mean?

I

n

CjL/\a^ /Ll t

1890t FenoTbscot Bay, Main©'

$)co\. . t7c

UAAA X 0 —

l 7 u/y 6 ' V ’7 '“*^. ^Uj Ui, j

't I l ■■ ( T^LKv Gla»M. V (i&vi-'V, _/

W /3 v jt*MWrvO Co-»v, '” u

*J»JUj fa %&A-<£>3^xLt. . X-v>a •

^ ^ L Jk^Ai , 0yv*-4uvj '^ n ~ A ' — ^

A, UXUL

r

<>-VA- ^-<^C

£o - ^+~j . /^w ir^- jo i/V- ,

CAA_»v^

/m

/frffa

W

(fku^jfa ofajk

^ jbs^\ • ^ ^ ^ / A {'.'■'! A\ Xsr-rA-

/ A )y l^x r y /.<j t-y^ <■/’* */' Ck AA X-- . 1. r; l -A‘- J /.

XCCy ( 'V <7- - rXs oX- /A XX?

Ixjt^^yj^ . Xf/wX- ~~U\^ Sf O^XMyiAA)^N^ y^-AAr N A fr-^f/V\- t/^) C-CK/WA.

W ;2-«wo o- j£C^

cv J\AA* r ^Aj ^ ^VaAj Ag aAA. ^ — I Oj 1 4 0-v“VA_ O' ^--Xl- '-A C_^‘ tf'r-r , yVA+'-A X {f /X/

/ X^ ~X~ CVvs <-<f «^6v\ J 6 ^^. ^j 4 ~a o 6 d y-dy> ■

Aw

Ay'- / 'wy-v.<;

[/f\j~. Cs\J^ AAj_^v1 ^Vv\ ^V-j^ A' ^■‘"'/'■-A C\r~y\

(^KJWtV-^o ^'~-y <3^-0

C^-f'v' ^ -^Aw v< G-^/

wxX^: 0 -o^ (

/x ^ W-v

/t,N,

T

r

Osrv-x, /wvr*A_ ^\A\ /^yv' (JX— JV

/3L Ww^, VWvU "^Vwj ^w-x

^Ww W A-W M ^ 0 /' o-l^ t- ,

J t> jf / C'£g'P^-C~ l^Cnyy -A

fay

(AJ-XasO (Ji^^AwiWW^p

• VOt^v?K^^

At A./y

£j 2 ^W ^/jjUjJ

7 A Wc^

crw-v

A??

\)<Lh y / 5

"

IJod

fa. if

^ ^ 7 O^XXJA-i^y aa-atlaA^ f

cn^

LAr-e^y

fa (fa^ -

C vJU^u. >

<£<

/

TXAj <^T& utm..

V

! 7 a « /A'aaA. A, /V 0 -N

^tA.. faypA^( /^lAvv— A f£t4LXx%^'' //vA/rf^ ^

A

•vS' T^CaJ) <Ha^_ /4a/) ^ \JUo^A'-Vv\ ^sA..*Au--^A- frVv ^cA-K- 0"'-^ (Aa. A. ^J*CA(

^ {^vov^A-Jt>-7l /^AArv7v_ ^yj-Aj (ytJsiry^O IxU^ cL\. <*s^O 4 vtA>sA^ v

/i^jUa-^W^x ^ CAAU^A Wvrvj^ . //v^ ^^Aav-A, J

£L “ A ^ CC\r\ AX^ cX-V^y/O VA^-si (-Aty y\s '.'-i- ^ ^

(^v\ Wv^v- (rvi>^ Vr ; ?/ 'A ^ 'i ^ ^ 'A / — 'a ,'\ 9 X * : ^ - a, \ . 7 CA-a', v 7k v

1 r J , . ^

j 0 ^ jyj aX K j,/) fxJ ^ (W fV„ fa ^ A ^4 -, a_ W<f A>

A^AWC-^ V< VX-aa JVxA-^a

!<f

Birds of Upper St, John,

Batcheider.

71. Ceryle alcyon {Linn.) Boie. Belt
common at Fort Fairfield. At Grand Falls it
there was good fishing ground.

Belted Kingfisher. — Rather
11s it was to be seen wherever

Bull, N. O.O, 7, July, 1,882, p, 150

Birds within Ten Miles of Point
de Monts, Can, Coxneau & Merriam

fresh eggs.

Bttli.N.Q.0, 7,Oct, 1882, P, 236

Summer Birds Of Bras D’Or Region
Cape Breton Id,, N.S. J. Dwight, Jr.

17. Ceryle alcyon.

Auk, 4, Jan., 1887. p.10

An Ornithologist* s Summer in Labrador
M. Abbott Frazar,

Ceryle alcyon, Belted Kingfisher. O 11 May the
22nd this species arrived at Esquimaux Point,
and at various times I saw perhaps a dozen dif-
ferent individuals but did not meet with any
elsewhere.

O.&Q. XII. Mar. 1837. p. Jv.

Breeding Dates of Birds in Rungs

County, N.S, ^TatsonL.Bisbop.

Kingfisher {Ceryle alcyon) . May 28, 28, June
14, July 7.

O.&O. XIII. Mar. 1888 p.45

Birds of Magdalea Islands.
Dr. L.B.Biataep.

28. Ceryle alcyon. Belted Kingfisher.— Abundant
dent, breeding on all the islands. It breeds rather late a<
eggs was taken at Grosse Isle, June 28—

Auk, VI. April, 1889. p. 147

Summer Bd*. Restigouche Valley, N.B,
July, *88. J. Brittain and P. Gox, Jr.

Ceryle alcyon. Kingfisher. — Very common.

Auk, VI. April, 1889. p.l!7

Summer Birds of Sudbury, Out.

A.H.Alb 6 r«er.

~ 3<g 'Belted Kingfisher. Abundant. Breeds.

O.SsOj 3Uoe, 1890, p-87

Dwight, Summer Birds of
Prince Edward Island,

Ceryle alcyon. Belted Kingfisher. — Tolerably common, making
is home in holes dug into the sand stratum that overlies the rock of the
oiuns along the shores.

Auk X, Jan, 1893. p.

4Zu>

■T

/ ' aMj

ho /k,^U

(s')

i

Jbuujt^ZCjL cmXaiv

A .X.£>

/A. hxA^d'-*-4 jrOtM ! / dU********"-

I [ /gz~~ a AV,

/CkVfrv*- fcA^ttA' J j

(j- ctT-,.; (AO-fLk.J ^ Vv

b/tu. : 0 . /Ca>-- c/ty!-,-A 'Zks^> Cn. <?h.^

>v,. ./ 1) *■ 7

K

. ?

■ku*A«* }. -Urfc~<A- <A,vC.W/f '(Z,i

/,'trvA / A ^

AV U jj ft iAit

*w. H^rr' rT i

, / . J * /TV y'

Hvt y

' ; i v. “■ ■ Zaj-.Ia _/ A f C f- A ‘ r ^ O chef >

v iaa. 4A A-'/ /.. (. ., w c 1 tJU,

■ A : / •/ , . . POjul h*X, #V* He..

Newfoundland Notes. A Trip up the
Humber - iver, Aug, 10 - Sept : 24,1889.

26. Ceryle alcyon. Belted Kingfisher. — Abundant.

Louis H, Porter, New Pork City.
Auk, XVII, Jan., 1900, p. 7£.

■&****v*~XAs Aslu- tt -^- ^ /2l^c. < rv* /

y\*^Ajt-AAsc+-q &UsajbyjS(^/c. &its£<is\x*j ,

C.<I4+^L+J-. (Zu^Vt-, >cx. i v/ f f^oy

" 15. Ceryle alcyon. Belted Kingfisher. — Several pairs observed

every day. Breeds.

'fJ^AAcLn ^fcrvtnArb t @

fh/Cfc H , {fas^d-

(^k,Xd^, }*+', Il°1, fr. 7 J7

152. Ceryle alcyon. Belted Kingfisher. — Summer resident, com-
mon April 1 to October 10; earliest record March 6, 1894 (J. Hughes
Samuel); breeds.

Summer Birds Tim Pond Me. by F.SLG-

Belted Kingfisher, ( Ceryle alcyon). A pair seen
around the lake botli seasons.

Fail Birds of Northern Maine.

it. H. Carp enter.

1 viS^fsr;^ aicy ° n) - The i^i-

lali Points along th^rtve ^' 6 ^ ^ W ' th at

O.& O. XI. Feb. 1888. p. 2 . 4 -

°.& °. XII.Kov. 188? „. I8a

+

SummerResidents on Soufh^-«,=i

Ooast of Maine. T . H , MontgoXy, Jr.

390. Belted Kingfisher. Saw a pair tlirougii-
1 out the summer at Bootlibay.

0<aadO, J5t Mov, 1890, p,ie,i

ojU^.- 6tuj. v Rye Beach, N.H. 1871.

/ a V* 7 / 'S./O

o-ic^n^ ,_ ^U^j./y H xJ Rye Beach, N.H. 1808 .

Bds. Obs. in Franconia, N.H. Juneli-21
'80, and June4-Aug. 1,’87, W.Fasoa

$. Ceryle alcyon. Belted Kingfisher.— R ather common.

Auk, V. April, 1888. p.161

Birds Ob^vd. near Holderness, N.H

June 4-12, ’85, and4-ll, '80.W.Fason

7- Ceryle alcyon. Kingfisher. — Common.

Auk, V. April, 1888. p.149

1895.

Breezy Point, Warren, N.H.
/> <

A t.

!1‘ ’ X.3- A6' ’

Birds Obs. at Bridgewa+er,N.H.
July 12 - Sept. 4, 1883. F.H.AUc

tk^a w

Ceryle alcyon. — Not common.

Auk/ VL Jan. , 1889. p. 76

Bds. Obs. at Franconia and Bethlehem
N.H. July- August, 1874. W.Eaxetr.

J-A. AtU~.

2 . Ceryle alcyon. Common.

Auk, V. April, 1888. p.163

Bird Notes, Central N.H. Winter ’91-92
J. H. Johnson

Kingfisher, November 24th.

0.&O.Yol.l7,May 1892 p. 72

Summer Bds,Mt. Mansfield, Vt,

8. * Ceryle alcyon. Kingfisher. — Common. 1

by Arthur H. Howell. Auk, XVIII, Oct., 1901, p \3^o.

a ' /

/6~ V d'°v.l3 E. Mass. 1884,

a dJ2rs2^"»&; ywe-J^ mU

i 8 " ■- : i»-- a-,- 4

Tl/fjw. ( near Co?icord').

Air7

/2.

JUy r~,

j~L uK/r*

J-L, 7-. 9~-/°i

/3i _/5

-X

/U7

/L (o '

Mass. ( near Concord ).

I 1888

APR 9-

2 /

7

s£

uCt

flslsrzsi, _ C3^ ^

2 . Ceryle alcyon. Ratio of increase, say 3 .

Bull. N. 0.0. 8, April, 1881 . P.127

b</^w7eK- ^d-iStsc/^s cy ,Ssu*A^u„

sj:x. ^g-

It is not an uncommon thing to meet Kingfishers where open
water can be found inland. One was noted last February in
Brookline, and I have known of one or two more in about twice
as many years. /

* 1 ft X 0 ? ; Bull N.'O.O. 8, July. 1883, p. /fZ>

Birds of Bristol County , Mass.
F.W. Andros.

Ceryle alcyon (Linn.), Belted Kingfisher.
Summer resident, common. Breeds.

O &O. XII. Sent. 1887 p.?39

^ /t rCo<^.

Kingfisher seen near Salem, Jan. 31. Geo. O. Welch.

O &0. XIV. Feb. 1889 p.SO

Bds. Oh*, near Sheffield, Berkshire

£y, Ma«s. June 17- 20, ’88. W. Faxon

8. Ceryle alcyon. Belted Kingfisher. — Three or fou r seen .

A uk.VI.Jan.. 1*08. P. 44

/kfi

-jf'cuU lcv-TK ,

22

(r'-v.

7 9*4

/ /

Tt«

7^-3 -^7 *

Cj^ ^l-0{) Ja AJ\r --V> ~> Lc^J^ -/y^ '

C-- p i{

/ p t ; t 7 £ t ' ■ ^

(- ~ |o e> OHs- a.

v ~-‘^-=S^V _ $ <uMJjl -c^Jij^ fcxo

A

7 u-^ '^•'*~- < ^-%—

^Uvy~^ -CoMjU^ /{ If ( 9 0 Z-

t. ^ >' < v ./ ^

yvt^x^- ^ /v?

f^ftyjvCry ll

iaa/x

' ]4^0 Utx-^UaA

Ttx

| ^-cvA-y^ </v

jLjUJiy-

c.

/?< 2 .

Cl % CT^V

"Wellesley (College, £, l(W^^-v^\v<^a^A,

V \\ r ELLESLEY.']V^VSS. '^4 °( / / 0 3

3

Truitt. /Si

'} r y~L**n/3

/^Tv,

/

'^l ✓ A -~ C _

^Arv-j. TH^j

% y l /-“"•"'•‘C sj “ S!~^

^ f ‘ A

*0

, -J ~'

7 ^^€c fX^K t ^

— -r /^-O sfnr^r-z4~

' ^5^4- ^ ouv^o 0

'5 '

T*~ -fo - ^

r — / ' %> -<J^T

/K^ '^4,

/°. yvi*^-<L

Tn^a^.

On February 10, 1918, a Kingfisher (Cen/Ze alcyon alcyon ) was seen
flying over a frozen salt marsh at Cohasset, Mass. No open water was to
be seen anywhere save the open ocean between Duxbury and Boston.

W. Spkagtje Brooks, Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., Boston, Mass.

Oonuoctiout, June, 189S,

£v

T

7a

( <k

c f7y /fit

y-

n <w yi a 3 fdl U‘. /l L

„ i*t L /y‘ a*-' mi*'#*
« An-

O CIV- 2 ^

> . . , - vw u - </“ -l’’ - -

04*ar** * V *7~ A *~* M

!U*lt 7'<AAy ^ r, ^

OX r*-y

JaaAa.

;j^-\ KaJ/\j i

(3^— vA> ■hTa^^'

ov

J-V

AAA-to^

■*w^Vs/ ^li\A*

Ov %* 1 P

ttu 4U.

*y*

/f ^ c ^ r7^

£- ^ a «. ^ A ^-: M

//vw '

mxzi *1*^ **-

¥

&Vv

I'STarJve® . p%.

King Fisher shot at Portland, Conn.,
Jan. 14, in^^rptil;

^4stslvisyiscesiJ -Puu fcwil/’

15th, Belted Ki ns' Fisher
shot at Middletown. — CAas. IT. Neff, Port-
land, Conn. O.&O. VU1. Apt. 1883. p.&-

f Eight robins were seen Jan. 1st, at Fair view
Reservoir; Feb. 24th, four robins, at Tadpole
ond, 1 eb. 21st, a kingfish er and many blue-
birds and song sparrows, at the Basin/

--- -e™.

OftO.XVl, March. 1891. p ,-^

2S

Birds observed in Naval Hospital
Grounds, Brooklyn, G.H.Oouea

12. Ceryle alcyon. Belted Kingfisher. — Common.

Bull. N.O.O. 4, Jan. , 1879, p.31

Notes on Soma Winter Residents of
Hudson Valley, E.A.Mearns.

13. Ceryle alcyon. Belted Kingfisher. — None of the collectors
seem to have found this bird wintering, though it might easily have done
so during the past winter. My latest capture was November 4, 1874 ; also
saw two November 30, 1878. It probably occurs on the lower part of the
river in winter.

Bull. N.O.O. 4, Jan.. 1879, p, 36

Birds of the Adirondack Region.

C. H, Morriam.

m

#

no. Ceryle alcyon ( Linn .) Boie. Belted Kingfisher. — C ommon
summer resident, breeding about the various lakes and rivers.

BulL N.O.O. 3, Oct, 1881, p.232

Notes. 'tSttwlcfer island, -N-. V,

W- W- Worthington,

Kingfishers arrived the 27th, oj MctWcJd,.

O.&o. X. May. 1885. p. to.

Arrivals ofMig’y Birds, Spring-1886,
Central Park, N. Y. City. A. G-. Paine, Jr.

AD ril U. Ceryle alcyon Am- Belted Kingfisher.
O.& O. XI. July. 1886. p. 109

B4s. Obs. at Little and Grea*Gnil Ts-
landf, N.Y. Aug. ’88 E.H.L'ut. h r.

13 . Ceryle alcyon. Belted Kingfisher.— C has. B. Field informed
me that. he saw one around Little Gull early on the morning of August 12 .

Auk, TO. April, 1889. p. /£?,

Winter Notes from Stephentown, N.Y
Benjamin Hoag. ’

A few Belted Kingfishers have remained
with us all winter. It seems rather odd
to hear their rattling notes, and see them
flash by over the ice-bound streams. My
first record of their wintering here.

O. & O.Vol.18, Jan. 1893 p,ll

Jan . 20. Saw a Belted Kingfisher

7f. V.

O.&O. IX.P’»t>.1884.p.J^

A 1 V /■ \ Jy 7 , fy ^ 1 'L'V-^'l 0-A-< V'-v </] ^ Cji- xB l ~— tXljL

3 0 1^.0-^ tr ■

Kingfisher

Not common.

B. A. Sterling, Brooklyn, Pa.

Auk, XIX, July, 1902, p.298.

?(>

Albinism and Melanism in North
American Birds* Ruthven Deane,

Mr. Boardman informs me of a partially white Belted Kingfisher
which he saw at Halifax, N. S., and Mr. Collins writes me that there
is a male specimen at the Museum of the Detroit Scientific Associa-
tion which was taken near that city in 1872. It is of a creamy-
white color, though the natural markings of the plumage can be

seen.

BalLN.O.O. 4, Jan., 1878, p.29

l I now have in my collection a Belted Ivino-
which shows curious coloring. The bird
is perfect in color except that the blue on all
| parts of its body has changed to a very light
J cream color with a pink tinge. The bird is a,
! female; I have had it for years, and have
never noticed or heard of an Albino Kingfisher
in this province. T. E. Egan.

Halifax, N.S., Oct. 28 , 1888 . o.& O. XI V. Dec. 1889 P.18>

Tttfe Singing of Birds. E.P.Bicknell.

Ceryle alcyon. Kingfisher.

When the Kingfisher is present in winter its loud rattle is
given with as much vigor as at other seasons.

Auk, 2, July, 1885. p. £60.

June 5. — A Kingfisher, Geryle alcyon,
was seen going into a hole in a sand-bank
and Banks followed him. After a hard dig
of about five feet he came to the nest and
took out six fresh eggs.

0 + 0 . YlL . a iK%Z- p ■ HA-

^irdsTidga 09, N»Y. Aides. Boring

382. Belted Kingfisher. Common. Arrives
on its northern migration about the second
week in April and departs about the last of
I October. The nest is placed in a sand bank at
(the end of an excavation which is often five
feet in length. The eggs are usually seven in
number, and are pure white in color with a
rosy tinge. The measurement of a set of seven
//is: 1 3-8 in. by 1 1-36 in., 1 3-8 in. by 1 1-36 in.,
13-8 in. by 1 in., 1 11-36 in. by 1 1-16 m.,
1 11-30 in. by 1 1-16 in., 1 11-36 in. by 1 1-16 in.,
1 11-36 in. by 1 1-16. The food of this bird
consists' of small frogs and fish which they
kill by batting them from side to side on a
limb and then swallow them whole.

o. %© a SV, =1*300, 1890,

Belted Kingfisher.

First observed this year on April 4.
Became common April 26. On May 2
I a pair had dug a hole in about four inches.

On the tenth as the men were going to
| work at the bank I dug it out. Hole was
J six feet long and ready for eggs.

I On May 13 the hole (a new one, ten
J feet from the first) had been dug in a little
| over two feet. On the 20th I dug it out.

| It was three feet long and contained two
eggs.

On the 22d I found that the birds had
, started a new hole near the others, in fact,

| between the two, and had dug in about
| eight inches. On June 2 I dug this hole
\ out. The hole went in just four feet and
j contained three eggs.

On the 6th of June I dug out the fourth
and last hole. It was about one hundred

j feet from the others and was just ready for
] eggs. This hole went in a few inches
j over six feet.

Between the second and third holes the
birds dug another hole a few inches deep,
j but struck a rock and had to try again.

Arthur M. Farmer.

Amoskeag, N.H.

O.& O Vol.17, Sept. 1892 P.131

■&*. P ^., ... ji,S.

I found three Kingfisher’s nests, each con-
taining seven eggs. Set No. 1 had incubation
advanced about one-third. Set No. 2 was very
far advanced ; this set I did not take. I caught
the females of both sets. Set No. 3 had incu-
bation in six eggs advanced about one-third,
the other egg was perfectly fresh and looked as
if it might have been laid that morning. I
found the fourth nest but got there too late, as
some boys had just finished digging: the eggs !
out, and broke them all, as the shells were lay- j
ing on the ground.

moyl 3, is-s-r -

©. X//l' . />.<??- /tro-

Someof my Best Finds to June 8 , 1892.
A.jfl.Kibbe.

May 11. Set of seven Kingfisher.

0> & O Vol.17, Sept. 1892 p, 133

2 ?

Habits op the Kingfisher ( Ceryle alcyon). — • The following observa-
tions are communicated by Mrs. Mary Treat, Green Cove Spring, Florida :
“ A Kingfisher whose feeding-ground is just in front of my windows fishes
from a private wharf, where he is seldom disturbed, and has become so
tame that he pursues his avocations without concern, though I may be
standing within a few feet of him. I learned that he ejects from the
mouth the bones, scales, or other indigestible portions of his food, just
f like a bird of prey. When the water is so rough that it is difficult
for him to procure fish, instead of seeking some sequestered pool he
remains at his usual post, occasionally making an ineffectual effort to se-
cure his customary prey, until, nearly starved, he resorts to a sour-gum
tree ( Nyssa aquatica, L.) in the vicinity, and greedily devours the berries.
Returning to his post, he soon ejects a pellet of the large seeds and skins
of the fruit. I have saved some of these pellets, as well as those composed
of fish-bones and scales.” The remains of fish which are found in the
bird’s breeding-holes, giving rise to a very general impression that the nest
is constructed of these materials, are probably deposited in this way. The
interesting instance of the bird’s feeding on fruit brings out the relation-
ship between the truly piscivorous species and certain exotic non-aquatic
representatives of the family. — Elliott Coues, Washington, D. G.

Pull N.O.O. 3, April, 1878, p.92

Curious Food for the Kingfisher ( Ceryle alcyoii ). — A few years ago I
examined the contents of the stomachs of two young Kingfishers ( Ceryle
alcyon ) , and found, to my surprise, instead of the usual remains of fish,
fragments of various beetles (Coleoptera) belonging to the families Cara-
bidie, Dytiscidse, and Scarabteidte, the Carabidae and Scarabteidae being
exclusively inhabitants of the land. Among the Scarabaeid* an almost
perfect specimen of Aphodius fumetarius was recognized.

Mr. A. P. Chadbourne, of Cambridge, Mass., who shot both the birds
in question, has furnished me with the following information. He says :
“The Kingfishers were shot at Kennebunksport, Me., on July 14, 1881.'
They were both young birds, and were shot in the nest with a collecting
pistol. I observed one oi the adults on the ground in a ploughed field
neai the river side, but did not shoot it. The young were fully feathered
and able to fly.”

I am ignorant as to whether the food of the young of this species has
been studied by any one else or not, but is it not possible that they may be fed
regularly by their parents upon insects ?— R. Hayward, Cambridge , Mass.

Auk, 2, July, 1886. p. 3 // ,

Kingfisher and Pickerel. A kingfisher
sat on a branch of a dead tree, on the edge
of Lake Keuka, the other day, near Fair-
\ child’s Point, watching for his dinner. A
black-bass fisherman was in Ms boat in the
cove only two or three rods above the spot
where the bird was sitting. He quit fishing, j
and kept his eyes on the kingfisher, curious
to see the bird dive for its fish when the time
came. He had to wait but a short time, for
a fish came within the line of the kingfish-
er’s vision, and the bird dropped like a stone
into the water and disappeared beneath the
! surface. It reappeared almost immediately
with a fish impaled on its strong, spear-like
beak. The bird’s body had scarcely come to
the surface when it disappeared again with
a suddenness that left no doubt that
it had been jerked back by something that
had seized it. The kingfisher did not come
up again, and the fisherman rowed to the
spot where it had gone down, to see if he
could find an explanation of the bird’s
extraordinary disappearance. A dead
pickerel about eight inches long was
floating on the water. A hole through
its body below the dorsal fin showed plainly
enough that the pickerel was the fish the
kingfisher had speared. The fisherman
drifted about the spot for some time ; but
being unable to discover anything that
would solve the mystery of the bird’s disap-
| pearance, was turning bis boat to row back
to the cove when something came to the sur-
face near the shore, twenty-five yards below.

; The fisherman rowed down to the spot, and
; to his surprise found an immense pickerel,
and with it the kingfisher. One of the king-
fisher’s legs was between the great jaws of
the pickerel, the latter’s long teeth being set
through and through it. The kingfisher’s
loDg, keen bill was thrust through the pick-
erel’s long body from side to side, six inches
below the head. The situation explained
itself. The pickerel had seized the king-
fisher as it was rising from the water with
the small fish, and pulled it back beneath
the surface, expecting to dine on it. The
[ big bird had instinctively turned and jabbed
1 its beak through the pickerel, inflicting a
fatal wound. The pickerel, with the bull-
dog tenacity of its kind, had kept it3 hold on
the bird’s leg, and the two had died together
and floated to the surface. The position of
the two was not changed, and they have
| been sent to a Rochester taxidermist to be
! preserved and mounted as they appear in I
their death embrace. [N. Y. Sun. I

T-v. %. w s c t x "£ 4 1 ■' 7 . ^

Oyster vs. Kingfisher.

Some years ago I lived in the little city of
Annapolis, Md., a great place for the oyster
and its numerous enemies. During a walk
along the shores of one of the three creeks
that surround the place, I witnessed an
incident that I had read of but never before
seen, of the oyster’s many adversaries. The
Kingfisher, in this locality, isn’t the least, by
any means. Many a fine oyster falls victim to
the rapacious appetite of this king of fishers
during the sunny hours of a summer day.

Walking along the shore looking out for
anything that might turn up, I noticed some-
thing black fluttering and screaming on the
shore opposite me across the water. Failing
at that distance in finding out what it was, I
procured a boat and crossed over. I was sur-
prised to find a full-grown Kinfisher, evidently
hurt, lying on the sand. I ran up to it and
attempted to pick it up, but found that it was
attached to something in the sand. Closer
examination discovered its bill held fast
between the shells of an oyster. I soon liber-
ated it and found the tongue quite black from
non-circulation of the blood, which showed
that it must have been held prisoner for some
time. This rogue was evidently caught thus :

At flood tide the oyster opens up to receive
its food brought up by the rising water to the
shore, and at the first sign of the ebb, closes
promptly. Our rogue went to work just a
little late and found the oyster in the act of
closing up for the night. The bird was quite
weak from its struggles to free itself and
rested for some time in my hand before it
took advantage of its timely rescue.

H. C. Hopkins.

Baltimore, Md.

0.& O Vol.17, July, 1892 p.109

Birds of Dead Diver Region, Me. F. H. O.

76. Ceryle alcyon, (Belted Kingfisher). Nested
in the banks of the Sandy River. 4 Saw a pair
each year in August about Tim Pond. Also saw
several while fishing on Tim Brook in the woods,
far from any congenial nesting site. They evi-
dently had an epicure’s taste for fingerling trout.

Ml

(h^MA-

'zCa-j ,

°~ ~t~

fyuSu n ^ &-+K) L^'\y\ <a

M^-lAA. CaAl^. c<_ j ^

jaiA^cM #-v ^V* o_*^.

*- / tt^c

^-<n. <v *-*-*-*^b- fv
Ay AaMatA O^j^ct 'La-a^cMC

tvt2^-<rv^ ^fi^CA^Ls^

Ha^A £c •jp.^^-t/, tsL^^L

~tdZ~ CrxA^eA cd ^pMZZ AA

trv (ax ^y^tVAlT" ^) ^ ^ <S-A_A^-a

^ ir\ ^<aaa^v_. oA~ I’ ^ As V _ '^txc^' — 7

"Winter Birds in South-eastern Mass.

Harry G. White

9. 2 Vjc Belted Kingfisher. It is stated in
books that the Kingfisher may, on rare
occasions, remain throughout the winter in
Massachusetts, hut I do not remember to have
seen it recorded as a regular or common
resident at that season. This, however, appears
to be the case, at least in that portion border-
ing on Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound,

* J -~- 4 -~~ *«4V»V» Touufnn and

sbai .loqjoire pais paum.ix, g u jv X'q ‘q i0 g J9 q
-ui9O0(j no ‘eocjd siqj ;u joqs suav uo.iapj jqgijq
V •egpt.iqui'BO ‘l»uo,[ qsa.iq jn AprepiSa.i jej
-uim aqj puads Aaqj juqj aui spaj .lajsMo.ip uj\[
q3noi[qn ‘juiod siqj ju .lajuiw in a.re.i oq oq pa.ia
-pisuoa si U0.1011 suix -uomji Vl^W a?/X ’8
•suoisnpuoo ojujnooi! A.toa jo uoij
- anpap aqj joj sisuq i: si; aA.ias oj OAisuajxaui
ooj ja.f sn a.re qAuqj qs.ren aqj jo aounpunqn
aAiji.indiuoo aqj uo sajott Aui sr ‘[Buoisiao.uI
sn dajS A [no 1 uost.reduioo jsiq siqx -junpunqu
oq oj pres oq Aqi;o.i Auui Aaqj ‘uouiuioo jsoiu
11 T1 o.re ssiqo v sv sqArejj uaqAv uorjn.iStm puj
ait; Sui.mp saijipjooi .laqjo jn juasa.id s.iaquinn
aif) A'| ‘po;;> adu,) uo juapisa.i .lajuiw v, sr p.iiq
)uqj JO aouupunqn oqj agpnf om j; jnqj os
‘uojuirex W’ I[« li! ouou pun pon s.poojVi uoas
a.raAv .moj Ajuo ‘o.m.ix ip.iojq ju papjooa.i «'w
sqAren '[srejyr Ajxis jnqj auip aqj Suu

14..

February, he seldom appeared about the
station, for small fish were very scarce and
especially so in the shallow water off the
harbor, where the anchor ice and frost killed
what few there were. But on one or two
occasions, I saw him diving into the icy water
of the IIoll amid the floating cakes borne on
the surface of the swiftly flowing current.

' A pair lived all winter in a hole in a sand-
bank at Hadley Harbor, Nauslion, and from
the reports of fishermen, I infer that at least a
fourth individual resorted to similar quarters
at Cuttyhunk, the outermost of the Elizabeth
1 chain of islands. The Nauslion pair were
frequently seen in January, viz., nine times ;
; but on the following month they changed their
fishing grounds and were less frequently
observed. I heard of them occasionally out on
the Sound and near Tarpaulen Cove. It is
said that here, a winter never passes without
a few Kingfishers remaining over and that
usually they are more plenty than during the
season which has just passed, this particular
scarcity being, no doubt, partially caused by
the shooting last fall. On the afternoon of
February 1st, I saw a single Kingfisher at
Edgartown Harbor.

Moqs oj puoj sajouguiAvopi O.St O.Vol.17, June, 1892 p.84

1686. Winter Kingfishers. By A. B. George. Ibid. — In Michigan. / fa , •

For, & Stream, Yol» 80

327. Kingbird and Kingfisher. By Fred T. Jencks. Ibid., VI, p. 64.

— The latter attacked bv the former.

1683. Kingfisher in Winter in Massachusetts. By C. B. Ibid Feb

9 , p. 44. For, & Stream. VOl« 80

13. Ceryle alcyon. Belted Kingfisher. ‘KiNGFisHER^j^Gn<»w ( g^_ 0 jj na _ Loomis
seen July 9, 1886, along the Oolenoy at the bottom of Mt. Pinnacle.* * an . i8&(>. JJ. 5 ^.

Ceryle alcyon. Belted Kingfisher. — I found a nest in a hollow stump
in the summer of 1886, and from the appearance of the cavity am sure itiiiLTTKa VIX,Oot,
was occupied by a pair of Belted Kingfishers that were in the vicinity al$A59Q»Bo 3£i&
summer. Mile Beach, N,J. O. S. Shicko

Q: mii q.

Pickens Co.
So. Carolina.

i

<U

boO

oCO

<D

OJ

M 1

a

■m

3

32

Winter Birds in South-eastern Mass.
Harry G. White

9. The Belted Kingfisher. It is stated in
books that the Kingfisher may, on rare
occasions, remain throughout the winter in
Massachusetts, but I do not remember to have
seen it recorded as a regular or common
resident at that season. This, however, appears
to be the case, at least in that portion border-
ing on Buzzards Bay and Vineyard Sound,
although the winter notes from Taunton and
Highland Light do not include this bird on
the lists.

Late in the fall, the Kingfishers daily plied
their trade from off the guards of the Com-
mission Wharf and great was the demand for
their skins to help out the World’s Fair
collection. The persistency with which they
were stalked and the “dare devil” habits of
the birds themselves caused mo much alarm
for their safety, as I was anxious to continue
my notes upon them with the view of learning
the exact time of their departure for the
South ; and when one or two of them had
been secured, I would have sold out my
interest at a very low figure. One bird escaped
the general slaughter and remained with us,
a Hitting spirit of the departed and doomed to
fish alone from off the iron railing, so I was
correspondingly happy. But too much of any
good thing is apt to wear upon the nerves, and
so it was with my Kingfisher. At first, I was
only too anxious that ho should remain
another day, but soon I became more in-
different and finally I longed to mention the
impropriety of further putting off his depart-
ure. But he had not the slightest intention of
leaving, and as far as I am able to judge, he
has stuck to the text of “don’t give up the
ship,” having remained on the ground, ready
to welcome back bis brethren which adopted
the better part of valor last fall. All winter,
be kept bachelor’s quarters in a last year’s
nest situated not far from the station, and as
long as the “ silversides ” and other small fish
remained, he was ever busy about the wharf,
although on account of his temerity, he served
as a target for rifle practice. During the
month of December, he was about the wharves
on ten days, and in January I saw him on nine
occasions, the last being on the 31st. In

February, he seldom appeared about tbe
station, for small fish were very scarce and
especially so in the shallow water off tbe
harbor, where the anchor ice and frost killed
what few there were. But on one or two
occasions, I saw him diving into tbe icy water
of tbe noil amid the floating cakes borne on
tbe surface of the swiftly flowing current.

A pair lived all winter in a hole in a sand-
bank at Iladley Harbor, Naushon, and from
tbe reports of fishermen, I infer that at least a
fourth individual resorted to similar quarters
at Cuttyhunk, the outermost of the Elizabeth
chain of islands. The Naushon pair were
frequently seen in January, viz., nine times;
but on the following month they changed then-
fishing grounds and were less frequently
observed. I heard of them occasionally out on
the Sound and near Tarpaulen Cove. It is
said that here, a winter never passes without
a few Kingfishers remaining over and that
usually they are more plenty than during the
season which has just passed, this particular
scarcity being, no doubt, partially caused by
the shooting last fall. On the afternoon of
February 1st, I saw a single Kingfisher at
Edgartown Harbor.

1

0.&O.Vol.l7, June, 1892 p.84

iy A. B. George. Ibid . — In Michigan. !<*

|m. Vol, 80

er. By Fred T. Jencks. Ibid., VI, p. 64.

Iner.

ter in Massachusetts.

fcm. Vole SO

|d Kingfisher. ‘Kingfisher^;

Pinnacle.*

By C. B. Ibid., Feb.

olenoy at the bottom of Mt
I found a nest in a hollow stump
earance of the cavity am sure itAUK, VII, Oot,
lers that were in the vicinity al$- f£ 50O,P, 328

o.aswcko

olina. Loomis

^n-ia&O. d.

I*

iH

i

M

&>o

2 05 5

c B

<8 <j3

^ 4*

50 |M

O

<< £

§ 1

• vi

CO 50
" §

Eastern Massachusetts.

d t

/kfrf

\ jl

( \aa^

✓ . 8$' 7**<

t.. lis * i 0

’trcc^/z^uA

&mJt^L'COsr 2 sL 4 As

C, -z C^cr^J •*

%’ Z C<) — Co - Co - CO — <I^ruJ oXc

4 3 /tuiyi

Jn, ^ z*

^ /£ -

/srif? 7;/*

~~T' w>

6- ^ #■•>
*‘ r ^ /H^r<

ft-

>*"7 TKu,. "*r

. # * . 3 / « /m •

, W. 6 - 4 / £i. fc. 4 ' ^ m-V-

k-^k /Hk9, /*.3*.S^ - 6 #./*;_ li%. , ?3%. /9(zt^/_^. IS 1 . m IMP

S*. <>•>, #• f A.

64- 7*,/7* IW. 6%. //it Drip.

6 .

M 1 /#

U>p*

X, c i-, c r, c j.

a

j 7 ((ZXJt~x) /<£ - 4 /-X-

6 k .??*.&* Jfi iw. %cKzfi

w .

n?z

. a A. 3 , <2K- ^ 9> #. at.. z>.

0^ *K //.i /2* ** - /&* * M I/k. U '

a. &<■ c /‘ c ti- , ^
k i/k n%lh* w* 26 £y*. ijp-

■*

, <ZC Cd^ c$- a.

4 464 4ir* 4^v?o.i

/A/3

/w

■2 2 2

2-fe A.v hrs

3 >: 3 : M- o. , 3 ,-ff

/-

'£^ .. : 34 |«- A. J.#. 3 ,«.

rop 3 */n 2.? £3°* a r ™L /

7*' J* 7* Si /% % /?% At A v. /7# /r‘ /?% a. tint I

44$

£ 3 */fr p/' . .. C

46 $ So

A

7

^ Cs.

£. 4 / - Jo*

113 JLa4 31

:;i2, 3-. /fr?2 ^ /Hi

> ' ' 3-H- £-H Srfr: AH- & t — J2>^.

/Xfyntotik r* ?*/o* n/*.%/3k m nt ^2i h ,^,.zi 7

/sry

/m.

/j-?x

9 x%n%

3o

cA^ /i 4 4 74 5- 4- Ai ?| /4 /A.* 4/^

• * C.

Mz

Hfltf

c 4 sU.Q/ xsZC kl>

*■ 7 (7.

r -' j' /0±

T r~/w

(XU

/A/7

COyv^JLAxX. oui^yvcA

n

/ttf

Eastern Massachusetts.

J^x-'^s Okk frX'&k

£>—1^, '~~ffltH, C^CT^k C Xx^s

'-rb~ 0 ’’ C ^

'~lXfa - [y<. kC& X- ^

Ca^xlX '^Zno < t ^-'0~T-

i^Lo (XXfax X<~x

A^-u j jc^XX^ tA^X^

faksX' C ^L^O-'isl.

YU*. *

<2 ^H^ 1 - V\X/L yy^'CC,^

LAJr^y ^tn/\-^xA f~t

/

/vAsL.

1 --e^XZXXy ^ ir & cjC/

<ux^lX Oy

b

Mk/ «-^ -J %Zo

--'- ^7 Z%X~Xr-^ X j kx(\^

fr£U-c4' ^La^c

hi^yr

'(tX-sLA L i\J~x_

tyiMA- (Xi? Zi^LA^. o-/’ <a. /c>AyXy

'/ ! f- r. t Acx. ^

&~IA-

ry7

A

/7

X^*y<--£-€A^{Xy x

^ cx—<j-~cy\_ &Ly-y

/!%*• r 'HaZZZ 4AJAZA

f/ . M U^-tx^y sfrisA~- y&X Aa^L 'tryt<r-

(/ / t ^ yX , s?XXr\r<- ~&u.

Cf~7 6^/ cXkxUA^X^ zz<_yX^ t,<_-i

r / ,, ,. (Zts/u cX-y

&-\) — (\5s^ f A— =■— 1<

fc ^k- LX a “^7 ZkXX~>~-

A-y- AcZX ' y/'tA'ty* ~$ZA~. C\xZZX &1-T-1U y ^Ly-Z-Ycc o s

iL^X/Lq tZ Ajl^ZX ~~A\yy. CO~AaS^ ^ <?,, t y X /•- ~fZ^_ > <) /< <iy

f^XAZ^y-^d, aXZ iZCZZ. U-&X? A. Ao-t^O jy-<!>X< — Xtz>ZC — ttCe-'X c - A^O-X c - XzfrXc ,

i ^ r • i- < V c^v Xi x ^ ^iiZ\ ( \. r r < /’At ; ir* / ? X j'X t <

y / __

<Z^<^t-- ( ’■/ f f ^ ^ ^ (.? c tf (ZitSiyZZ 'tyX* >'< X< '' ///J ^^/ X “X ‘ u t A '^

tySTa-y' /Z&X C- _ /A-&-Z(; - dL&-z!Z —

/Zv-Xs - J^|*^C - /Z-*Xc / ' AtUmyX . ' Ax<y^pX <, ' A Xt- a^y £ / ^<r^<y A , <^«- A'crZc

OlsftZZ C-U-^XJC- aXsL frXZZC^ t fl^X.-l XZt.^ <-l>T> Tl-/<-^ y

r (Xa^^. ^ /]^jL-yY V~^+.. -&~<yAsY-

^ -T^XXXlslj euXy \XX

(j2 • (Ay\XXX\J^'XlXy^yXtX^y\^^‘W (fa (X -&- 1

^LfrX^t

Cy-X L't—-X)-^fa i '9 M.

^VaA. ^ CxXy

cL*-r-s. - fayfa^

^ XLu.^

y.C<—ZyX-<X^y

4 rv

* 4s\sy Xfaj- Q'jflX h

~tfX\d C-aXX tA \L-4^tfa^ jJsVl tX C-y^y. Jdfax. XX\)

fyfaxsX ^ '^CA/L ^ ^^\Axt Xcx- t-^w- ^-<a_ c fa^x o ^Uvu-

X iAj^XX\^XX '^-J' ^ L X 7X% vA^K^y

XXXi ^XxZXX &■ fa^- a A / d^ x> ^Xx ^/ ^-l

XA-^-X~yy^J

yL^-O^I XX'-

'~Y

(ixuXxxX &XX\aZ\x fyXXlx.

/Xt - ''X - •

J t-^ v-v^c Lj

Ok ■LX.. &^\,cK 0-X/fak_.j ^-t. (/Ll\_.j sW-^yC ajL k 0 '^A/t . kCi 0~CA^/stx. < yj> txk^r^A Mtj 7

jid^A-y Mv, ~(iX & t-c/^utul . *^l - <L*>~y kfa <' - ktrA sl- ^ krA/ j - Cc*/i/^~ iXyjyA^ X-L^yU, ( 'CCo j fa> , ^o y

if

Zo

fat *7 2 ty

fai-^44.

?r-

%< .X.

ffr 0j£*s\. ^v^v*. . — ff) 6^7777 w J'lt.C/i <1^?^ tyVL.c*-^ ^ f ^

X ^7 TZ^, <Z2yyf 7^7 ^(N^Zouc. i^fay „

^u>M . ^l/- — 77/as^i /xa^.^X ^Ty^Aj^A- ISlf/i-tU.

&J ~TZZy, T^Tla^. cy y ?

/ty I aTTC P *>- v. ^xyP-7 «— .

( £f\^t \A^P (fai^fa) C-x^<Ufafa fr v X? C-'~-^ **~l_ ^^-Aa. ^T~7t.^yy^ 1%X

a so-*~<, 1 ~l.*A /^„ „ ^ZZZ. ^ 1^- ‘Zv-ix^L, , ^ ^-^4

!J fLfa

L zr. /7 c ^-1 ^ i t i. 7~*~-x^*^j

(j~ i cA-a. 'IaX^ __ $X<3 o ZtcxL V-A-

[T^r'AA *~ ^7 /^vt 7 s^TA^y, t ~>-' i

'L\J~y ^ X-A 0~v« ($-*-'£■- ^ ^

iX- *

~rfc: ^

(7

A S7^£ 777 *7 c >

^ V’<" tf -Ls7 La. cZy v ^

(#£

P'1'1'1 C. TIv-xajAaj TPPZLi ^tu- 777777 /C^ & ^ ^ 77L&7 ^
£fa^ pA^xy; J^CaaLa^ (jv/c Ji^yyyA^, J TAj 7~C^7

/9 ~k/\s^ la/TTCv p A^ /zCiula-aA. Tt^TpC 7l <y j>/i _

-r

'/-i-»_^\_ s'. -TTT' 'Vy^-fTl

'[^AXA-y- Pa^ y^.^7Ao~%^o y'-t

Tl^k. $ *Z<~A /fx i-sLA£L^Q t'X- fah^ $ i-M-*

/^l-^-'xas. T- AA-y^. s)ud77777777-7^-t 77i_ z 7^, a 7^,7 77

£ cyTts^

aArTTsy txC*.. . /' tX^y.- c

~y7' '77i^^y?/7<r 7Z~ u**^ 'y j *77(

c7-i 7j'\_^_^j

77 y ~~M^ 7 , J 7

~fz^_ 7J-Ce^~cJyL - (lAA U&7 — ^

-y-'y''-cSlU- CiX ~ 7 T 7 -

i trA'K^^. Jt 77

7 ^Wl/V.

■^v. 'i*\.

c-v^ ~<^? 7~~\.

^ ^ ^aTT-x. L ^ y~-y. 7^7 7^- c *^i'7 Ji-.iAtx^sK^ TTi^* «/K77-

/lr\777 im ^va. j7a^}- 7 'jPe^'d dL<yys \/ 7^0^ AL*^a~<A- ^ivu <-^

^ Ux^jtA^ , l/ 7,^1 O^KA. tUyfr-*xzC ]f7~*- cTC

£Z\jP$ WsXAsxs* oTCTj V ^yKy ^AA c£as\^_ 7777777y ^

2 / 7.-i^-x^xCj * ca^caU TuXst ^ K-ust-tC^ AtTc^ TiZTTi b?

^ 7

<^i-

p77.^_ T&e^Cc .

X* ^A_<c^4.

" J e^-tA C^

/Srjo.

/^2<-c^y

"There is a Yellow-hilled Cuckoo established in one of our
neighbors grounds. His notes are hard, dry, and unmusical compared
with Black-bill’s, and are well represented by Maurice Thompson
(By-ways & Bird-notes, p, 148), Neither the preliminary, nor the
terminable syllables are ever doubled as the Black-bill's often are
I understood you to say thatthe Yellow-bill does not coo - bi.it
this bird does persistently, I watched him cooing at close range
this P, M, He throws his head forward and swells his throat with
each coo . It is seemingly quite an effoEt. Of the Cuckoos that
I have identified by eye this month, the Yellow-bills outnumber the
Black-bills five to one,

y

"To return to the Cuckoos- it seems to me, after my slight
experience of this month , that the Yellow-bill is less shy but
more taciturn than the Black-bill,

.Joined from Journal,

M &; ; 8 n e h usetfcs,
1392.

f/W//

, AzrZzTzA . cj 7 AzZ^tXp zAz Arz6Z&

AzZ ZZZnA'

^'xAzzz^rAzA, ^zA rAA ^zzzz/^zzzr' rrz'/rA / xA^AAzA /rxr^ zAA

AAzzzzAgs ZZ^ztzrzZXzZ , '^#A .rzA'^Az^ r^^pA^zr A zA.s-A

/ -~ X - /» 'y^ y>d. . , . y) ' ^ ^ ^ /7 /7 ^ ^ s /-ts- _ , v^ /yO- ^ A y / /Jy^ y yVS yV ^ >v - ^

/>fA ,y^5 z2>

zzrzr , c A z2rzrr' z^Zrz^AArr
'/Xfr zAz /^zzrAurA& ^At

xzzc 'AzzrA&iz
zp'AiA,

fcmz, < vZ Zt> ^AAAzZ'-AzAA . zzzrAz

TZZ'/Az / - ^//y- Zrzz - - Azz^r, Azrz r, Az-z?r- (■z-ztAwt

p(ZtAj.

jkoptr Sr ^/tw & JAAAtz - AAAA 4pf rzrrr rrzzz'/ z^yy^ -

Z rrzz , 7^rr r Azzr, /jzrr, Zzz&r, /tzrr, rZrz^^r nrz'/A j^rrzzz
XppZzrA^ /r2 -r jAz ^a>zztz izrp' Ap XrzrA xxrr^Axpp .

jA^aL. ^ /AzsrA yZtrwA rz-zrA , r^y^zzz7> A jAAzzr A-AAA AzzrArrf

"^A zzzrAAzzA Aa A rzzrxA /AzA , rAz AzzAzZ

"~~r

^rurz/^X -

ArzAAzpf Zr at - zr zz- AZzr ^rrzr^, xAzvcr/z&zzzzJ rzzrizA'
Xr~ zA- zr~ zrz?*r

A ■Alzzzt /A z2 JAaAzaAzA&A AzszArr

/_/_/- a£jt -£_ /z^y /rzz, A>Az AhzrUzz*'

zz/fetrAzAA. A

ZZ‘

IzArrzzA

zzrAz zzp-zzzxr-z srApr

j&ot^ , /J. {(A- 7-^^rf mAuzz^ pfz zz^AzrAx /zAz Azzrr AzrA rzz /Az zzAzAzzrrz
J7 xAzz zz^rzrtv /f JAAxzZ'-AAA A ALzrAzzA Z^z^zAzAsp?^'

JA zZZzxA /? x^zz^^/AAaA^ ^.. zzAZZzrzA/zA ^zrrz^zzzz AzpArp^

AZzA/A /Az .AzazA'j£zzzzZzA/^ crA^^.yAAp^zAx Az^zzzz^jZ

JkzziZ'/J . A A z?r*x zezzzt- / jA a l /?z A z?rz/z A/rrsrzzzzZi' / AtZzzzzA Ssrp
Xlfzrfa-A /zxAzzAArr' /Az A'AAu / - AzAzztf As z/izr r/A

j j“

Copied from Jour

Z/z'C yyicZ (zztr. ^)

M©,asaohuse '■:, la ,

1892.

fluffs /J Xy/A jAyt/' c/ c/Z Z0zA AzZZ A^CyCCiC AtZlC Z/tZCZ ^ZSCZ&ZW,
^^ZZ^-yA/, ZlytZiCZC^SfZyZ AzcAz z/zz^X /Zee/' ZZ/ycA yAz

z/ziy /Zyyz Ap/Z z/AZc yA aA^z/zzA zzcCy

yaxz Axz/z/A /Ac zAzf a/zzcA zAc Az^c^z cz^A zz&z

tXTZzA&cA^ /"Ac -Azo>iA AzXZzy' /A’ /AA/.

~ ^AAcTZy/AAcZ A/CtA^Z &XZ- ZZifZ#' ZZZ/ZZ 7&tZZ<ZZZ2X?cZ tfAy

Z/zc ZzzzzZ zAczsz A y/zzz szccxc /Azzzc yyzz# XZZ^

ZZZzzc /jT Xz/%x& AZ/~cz€/ /ZzA^ zZZ /Az Z/Acz zA/z/Zf ^ AzA^y^
/Azzw Xzyy yz&e' AtzrzrffoA y*/&&^A ZZzxA X-ZZ zAcc.c^
Z/zAy^My y^Z^Z' AzZ> A AzX Z> 0*y/?'Z /A zAzZzc*** ^CC^A
^AzAy-i & cy/ycA y^/^/A.

zAzA

Aty>u 2/ <AAuc A & yA/^ -.////</ ZktcAzrf z/ZsA a ^Aa^zycy
Az/ifiA ZT^czy /Asj Zz^Zzyi^^yA AZ.ccA A/iCsZ (Jl g^zc/y'

AZyA*A /7>C /Ac; //A Z^Azcc /A# /z/A yZPCZZ ZC/ZZcy CZiZ AA
ZX^XLi /ZZ /Ab <£Z A y Zy^CCaZ //zc ?ZZ?/ZCC*y , Ac /Zuyf' yZ zAzcc^
/CZzZzUZzZZ AtC2y 7/ l/TZZy zy/yZCZ CzZ/ZcAz yzzzs /Ac ZcZy/ /tZZ .

/Ac zcczAzZ y^zy JzyZ. /r/z-jf/r /Ac /lyza/zZ dyzzA Af /'/sysZy
/%.£, , Astvj'C Z / <u<y/r//izc/ r <z/' AzzA ir f Z2/ zt ///z<c /y/f.

JuAr/z AJ6AA#- Az?Z£A y/AzzAA' acA^yyeta&t^y&rffo**^^ ^

gt/zy/b y/ZZftf' yZyrAc/A zZzZ/yAyZfZZZZ' A/uZ> /ZZ ZX .

’ y^zz^cZZy/s-A/A ) ,

/ZAy ZfZ £//"£// ZX-

ZZne — C/UC' CCVZ- XZZfrZ2y' TXZ^lX XZ^X AxZ 'ZA*&c^ ZAiZZ ZZnAf

aAcz Zc/ccZ' /Ac AfcytZ' zzy A/A AAczAs/zAz aAzAAAAA

c/fycc/’ /icyiAc/A/ x/yx/Azf/c/s y /Az yzzz/zj,

SZOU/aZ Z/Zt 'Zz//Cc y/ZzcA z/> /Ac X'cZ^ZZ yzzcsAy

zzAtcc , A/AbCy zyy czz zAsy AA A/zA.

Jpjaword, Mass. J 0*»* U / <JCr *> , * Xi - - k ' f '“" ^ ^ 4tA t

W,X£. 1893.^ £*&<W 4i W4, Al ^<, X. <V~*

**-,.< «<. y^(« &<.<* ^c». vt<.^ H*/ ^ f/ ^a* ^"- ' , -*<*^* 5k4 ’'

<V C- f'-'C. H *■ j &JUM* *A \ C?a* » ^ tA •»

Vva'^ I {$_

/

/

Concord, Mass.

"may, # 1893,

... •

Ou« #| «* # k yUvcyf?#/<y

s <1^^*. # imw’ ^ Ikk. jj£* fl ^*nv <0* ♦» « ^ ^ « *<

^» » 4« w 4 | ^ ► «C j 4ti UvA

JL*&\* >■

I

gooovzus aiaer io arras .

Concord,
1893.
June 26.

Mass .

Near the But trick's I heard a Yellow-billed Cuckoo utter
the woodeny rattle several tiraes; it was answered by another
in feeble, hurried tones which I took to be those of a young
bird just from the nest. After the old bird ceased the young
(?) uttered these notes at the briefest possible intervals
dozens of times in succession - in a willow by the river.

//

gocoyzus ainer icanus .

Concord, Mass. Eating caterpillars.

1898. The white maples along the river banks are infested with

June 22. grass-green caterpillars which are fast denuding these beauti-

ful trees of their foliage. "" » " Having constantly seen or
heard Cuckoos (of both species but oftenest the Yellow-bills)
of late in the maples over the canoe landing I watched one of
the birds ( C .amer icanus ) to-day and found, as I had suspected,
that it was feasting on the caterpillars. It obtained them
by flitting or hopping from branch to branch and reaching or
fluttering up to seize them from the under sides of the leaves
I saw it catch and devour six within the space of as many
minutes. I doubt if we have any bird that is more valuable
as a guardian of our shade trees than the Cuckoo.

i

c.

a

/

l _. *'-v% Ih^-cLs fr y fcv~t> yA j(. AAj^t-i-^y £X ^/a/I/1

'Alxh^Ay/

a^AL ^s9uv-u - ^±2^~ ~ ^Hl5r < ^<~ J C-A^y, t)

itj ^ 7 , fyX. ^<aat~. frT Saa^a OaaA *AA<-a^

7

77 b-AXX^ vAa^xLo (t~y(X UJsAa /Awi , 77 -. ca - g.<r - c.-t^ c CAy,

^ C-X/\A^> ^y ($XyAA/CA^ A-lyy^ is/ j ' / C^yf tK^. tf~LAyyysZs^7 ^A-a / ^Ia

>w /

7

Z7

Tx-y

JAXa 7, 77. *A^Oa , f} / ^(a/aa (S-A_ Aa

a/O

., ( . / A a Aaaa^a caa 77

/r;/

7i °~j ^

/iaj^-aJL A ~ cLyjy /aa-iAa. <A_^y ^7 a f ^ — <*~*^--€*. y w*&-v tAAAAy

l^AAJ-Jy/AAfk, OA> 77 (^sasyA . fl ^V j-CwO ttsA ^(AAA. /Ue^AA^Xy

- y 4f\-/l -\y

{^fryxy^--^\y~ /xy~A /Uy^y ^ (. -/ Aly^Xyx. £<-*/ i_y/7 /A/C^V^O - AAch. -<r7 T^a^-cTT-V-s «— >^v

< / " /

( 3 '-- v . 'Z^v-^ — O — -\_ /ls\s^A—t n Q^ y — “V- X/Aoy. -b~f /\-* • -i A^yys~^y. — ov_ C 6-7 C*. byxy^y^ i/^A- <.

/ ^ 7''

<JA tAsj-aj^4-/tAy SjsxAt<-A) T^OA. /\^c. u-^.. 7/ '7 6^7'lZaJy 'LAsfrCyy? v ' ' 'Ay-Ay-^. 'tyyfr-4, /la^a^A.

i% £»yo

f / 'l / \—&^AA^. 0~- AlAsJ A-aXa'aA.A- -)

exxCC I- i

r

A_ ‘7/\^a*ssxs\/^A\, is^rfAyx/\^A^sy Aa ^ -&aAAA\ , <T?iT''vj ^7

/>vw / yv A — 7u i-Iaa^ '■■’ t^/A^v ?Xv oAtr^A^\y AAuAA, ^

^ i^ o CLX^d ~7> AiA\/A j ? Cc -. f &A-4 iy^ CL^X. C*jy-«/yx^^yJy ^l4^aaa. ^

4. (>XCA-^, ^AjL /z^^oL- If^y v\ djyAis^ ca/\ y o-A ^y ^vv>u . Ti-^ Axs)~-

C/'-Oj — ». <rv

>C

/^7

V'U-^ . /

c^y(^A’/^

7-- /> ’ ^ * /

A

A — Ax^uy,

^'u-\/\ Oa/aa^s'x/Xac / -4.

UUA

/A-£4azJ< -

% *

T^La, C^A_s , S' [ - r \uX/ Lktss ()^A »A /Xvv>. ^ C\A ^XA_, . ^ y (X/STX,

J^sjCX^ / c)~iy~- tAAMyK/L ^ 'Ty-Xyiyy] L-*sAk Li/~\ £{\ A K~ ^ 7vv <^\J IaA/^a, M_-0^7vv>\

lAL^-v 7 aa _,4 °Uyj^ djJ^Aj CU^X^A Ay^st/yx s/^q - — - ^yXvJ^xji ^ ^ A+y/f «u

y^-A^^y-Ay. 4y<Kytx/^ yjAyyA) 0X X</J

v^'^O-w? Z ^ o C--c-^ #aa^a_c/{_ J^XuiJyyysx^-'

$ c\y\ ~~Q^yp 6><y n ^.

a*Hska^ fy-LAyy^ -

7iy<7

fi

Records from Toronto, B.ES.T.Seton.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Coccyzus americanus. — -I have
examined several specimens taken in the vicinity of Toronto.
It appears to be a rare but regular summer resident.

Auk, 2, Oct., 1885. p.336

Summer Birds of Bras D’Or Region
Gape Breton Id, , N.S. J. Dwight, Jr.

16. Coccyzus sjj>?

Auk, 4, Ja.n-> 1887. 3?-l Q

Summer Birds of Sudbury, Out.
A. H. Alb erger.

. 387 or 388. Cuckoo (species undetermined).

Rare Birds in the Vicinity’ of Ottawa,
Ontario, Canada. — In the month of May Mr.
J. Fletclier shot six specimens of Lapland
Longspur (536) within a short distance of tlie
city. On the 9tli of May I obtained a specimen
( 9 ) of Dowitcher (231), and on the 27th of June
obtained a fine specimen (9) of the Yellow-
bellied Cuckoo (387). Geo. R. White.

Ottawa, Ont., Can. -

Oi&Q, 16. August, 1890, g?j> /X cT.

Coccyzus americanus Breeding at Ottawa. — Last spring (1890) a pair of
Yellow-billed Cuckoos built their nest in a crab tree in our garden. The
male and young escaped, but the female is now in my collection. — Geo.

R. White, Ottawa , Ontario. AUK, VIII, Jan, 1891, p. / iH •

il/<7s.s. ( near Concord ).

1887 ,

^ q *■

- It f

& ^U^y^C.

/kfass. {near Cambridge ).

1887

(QtX. 6 ~ ^

_/

Waverley, Mass.

May 9, 1890

r/

\f { /- ;- • y . -n, fe-f a-*£. ' ■ ' J -

(Letter of Walter Faxon. )

Our Red-eyed Vireo sang yesterday

low-billed Cuckoo this morning. I staid by him for half an hour i
hope of hearing him sing, but he only said, cuk , cuk , cuk once — hard
to be called singing.

I never saw a Cookoo so tame. He would
sit on leafless bushes within six or seven paces, and let me ex-
amine through my glass all the details of his plumage, the warm
rufons of his wing-quills , his showy tail-spots etc. It is my
impression that In have never s en either kind of Cookoo quite so
early before.

iff SL -

a.

4

upr^vc

Aa^-4*

ZCL: <w2t

*WT &v^ £}

rfcU

£*•*»

' ,*£*^X i?

dc ■

kn-A V ^ r ' 4 ^

4, . , - y

L-V 4^

*w#4- ■

feA**w*

4*o °

rr ■

9

/ Qririeoton<&; Rutland Ad ass. Aug. 2-* 1885

Jo.

Co Cj'jtsjj-yi . f

Summer Birds of Central Berlr«h,v^

ountry, Mass. Francis IP t A.11o». Ralph H"f fm

5. Coccyzus americanus. Yellow-billed Cuckoo. — One in Stock-

arm

bridge.

Auk XII. Jan. 1865 p. 88

Ociraecticnt* Ju&e, 1893*

. I v

n

* 3 .J, 1+ 1

'r ~ *

*s. n

>*

V v-l^V dUa^X^f ^AAT^ ^

(aa/*JE

J r ' /L . V

'9 V ►

fcfi'Jvjt ■ >,. W^A^i, At***, A

1 >4£Z ^ /0 t* /<r^ g£>k - <,A+. r ‘

■C<*^j--f ->■ Ov^t J\,4KfcA— Us**,XZ 4 2. 0

^ ^ -Z^U.^ <£ tur ds„.^

M-A-ft. t

hurr-l £) m, v<M‘. i-v_

J-V ffi\-'1^l*. V^V.,;, .v..

^ ^T^v. Ct^^y ^ $* ■ dk*rk .

Birds of the Adirondack Region.

1/. JU, Memoin.

in. Coccyzus americanus {Linn.) Bonaparte. Yellow-billed,
Cuckoo. — Breeds, but rare.

Buli. N.Q.O, 0,Oct, 1881, p, 232
Birds TSega. do, N.T. Aides Lortasr,

387. Yellow- billed Cuckoo. Common,
j] Breeds.

Q a &0 , ZVi June, 1890, b-85

150. Coccyzus americanus. Yellow-billed Cuckoo. — Summer
resident, not very common, May 28 to August 23; latest date September
21, 1906 (J. H. Ames); breeds (July 1, 1891). This cuckoo was regarded
as very rare here till 1889.

:x. . ^

r

T-t^l — o<-^- 1^-

/ yy .

cr

V

J

Jit -- - ' J S S '. - 'y '" • ^ y. „

^ ^ /zL*^ <£?-

/? s, t

C . C«^4

Z$T ./

S^^ ZJO ?%xl* i siszs.^

y A<^ s f,

— ^

-,/ r: "If <S^V~i>-^ — S2d-o ^C~ti {--&-& S^CS) &£>-£)

/J 7 7 7 7

/L

z^'

> “Zt. _

■;fc

/ . . y

'/

A.^3 SSs*, z2-o-^)_ dL.5>-g> --<^"d--z'j _ <^a-c r tStnySJ-erO.

The Singing: of Birds. E. P.Bickneli.

The Cuckoos.

Our Cuckoos have a variety of notes, some of which are cer-
tainly common to both species. I have never been fortunate
enough to determine positively which were distinctive of either,
and the notes of both are confused in my records.

Cuckoos continue in voice after their arrival until from the
middle to the end of August. Later in the season their notes are
faint and brief; latest records for such are September 4 and 14.

Auk, 2, July, 1885. p. X(bO .

Tlie Singing- of Birds. E. P. Bicknell.

The Cuckoos.

Our Cuckoos have a variety of notes, some of which are cer-
tainly common to both species. I have never been fortunate
enough to determine positively which were distinctive of either,
and the notes of both are confused in my records.

Cuckoos continue in voice after their arrival until from the
middle to the end of August. Later in the season their notes are
faint and brief; latest records for such are September 4 and 14.

Auk, 2, July, 1885. p. £(oO .

V

O. & O. Vll. Deo. 15.1882 .0. ) ff.

at

$ S

#/ t ^T' £*- c£c*~y d-<^ct t> f rfy c^ef ri

/y(^ S /^<*-

y/cA~1^yy . TtTt^y,

zrz

cf,

&&- <2o- <^0~<Zo

\.£L4-i. c.

&

ML

jj^juJ V

2w

6- Ct^r-7-c7 -

/

0-v*

*- 4'CC^^ tX7~C*y^ ^MKx*4t/^

^ ^ at-js*'*/!, $-Gi^£<AA^

'P%>~ClsQ v ^

dX^t^-vT # cf^£ ^ ^ ,f_

^ %^y*y w — “ * ■ ^ T Pf O' u — —— — o' w

Cuf^. ^Cvvt #T- y^-v Xc-JS? i~~(-+C <lu^ yt<A-t7

Xu t^ZZZ^.

A^^^zr' XZZ^y y c*^~4^7Z7ZZ~. y f^-

'Ptz- <^7" y-t'T+uT..

' Tocnt ^

^^mine this season was a nest containing
". a set each of Black-billed and Yellow-
billed Cuckoos. It was in a young oak
^sapling in a crotch about nine feet up.
fruThere were two eggs of each variety, very
S distinct in size and color — no one seeing
JP^them would question the distinction. In-
^ cubation had commenced but was about
^equally advanced, showing they were laid
^at about the same time. The old Yellow-
“■oill had “ nine points of law” in her favor
— “ possession.” It was late in the season
for that species to be breeding, the 24th
fc of July. Mentioning this circumstance to
J. N. Stannis, he remarked that he was
i^glad I found it, for he once found one
•' K similarly situated but had never been able
to convince anybody of the fact. It was
not in such situations as I have usually
found the Yellow-bills, but the bird was
very tame and demonstrative and I
could not be mistaken in the species.

So

O.& O . Vll. Dec. 15,1882 . p. ) Ff,

Cuckoos. — One very singular find of
^r^mine this season was a nest containing
' a set each of Black-billed and Yellow-
^ billed Cuckoos. It was in a young oak
^ sapling in a crotch about nine feet up.
t^There were two eggs of each variety, very
distinct in size and color — no one seeing
Ip^them would question the distinction. In-
^ cubation had commenced but was about
^equally advanced, showing they were laid
j^at about the same time. The old Yellow-
bill had “ nine points of law” in her favor
- — “possession.” It was late in the season
for that species to be breeding, the 24th
fc of July. Mentioning this circumstance to
J. N. Stannis, he remarked that he was
{§5kglad I found it, for he once found one
•'^similarly situated but had never been able
to convince anybody of the fact. It was
not in such situations as I have usually
found the Yellow-bills, but the bird was
very tame and demonstrative and I
could not be mistaken in the species.

So

Notes from Maine.
Jobnli. Goodale. Saco, Me.

0 j oos with two eg

oos with two eggs.

a set of Yellow-billed Cuck

O. ft O. Vol. 18, Sept. 1898 p. 129

A Pew Nests Collected at Cornwall Vfc.
Spring-1889. O. H. Parkhill.

Yellow-billed Cuckoo ( Coccyzus americanus).

Took first nest June 4th, which contained five
eggs nearly ready to hatch. The nest was
placed two feet from the ground in a bush.

The second nest I collected on July 10th, and
it contained two eggs, incubation well begun.

This nest was very small, and would not have
held more than three eggs. It was placed in a
small bush fifteen inches from the ground.

O.& O. XIV, Oct. 1880 p 160

mw 2 sets of 5 each Yellow-bill Cuckoo s. C.
Lincoln , Gildersleeve, Conn .

O.&O. IX. Oct. 1884. p izm

Brief Notes.

Robert Dresser on May 20, took a Catbird’s
nest containing four eggs and one egg of the
Yellow -billed Cuckoo. Is our Cuckoo in
danger of imitating its English cousin ?

O. ft O. Vol. 17, June, 1892 p.05

Cuckoos laying in the Nests of other Birds. — As far as my
knowledge extends, there are only four instances known, in which the
eggs of Coccygus americanus have been found in other bird’s nests,
namely, the two given by Nultall, in nests of Catbird and one by Langdon
in Robin’s, and that mentioned by Ridgway in Coccygus erythrophthalmus.
I was not a little astonished to find last Saturday, June 4, 1881, an egg of
the Yellow-billed Cuckoo in a Catbird’s nest, and near by another one in
the nest of a Black-billed Cuckoo. The Catbird’s nest contained only
one egg of its rightful owner; another Catbird’s egg was found broken on
the ground. The Cuckoo’s egg was fresh, but the Catbird’s egg was in-
cubated. The nest of the Black-billed Cuckoo contained besideTthe para-
sitic egg, which was fresh, two eggs, both incubated, but one much more
than the other, the embryo being fully developed. The parent bird (Coc-
cygus erythrophthalmus) was sitting, but left when the tree was ascended
and stationed itself on a near tree to watch our movements.

The circumstances attending the discovery of these two eggs make me
think that such cases of parasitic Cuckoo’s eggs might not be so very ex-
ceptional and still evade the watchful eye of the collecting oologi'st or
of the observing ornithologist. I went out to look for nests of Empid-
onax acadicus. I took my nephew, a lad of fifteen, with me to assist in
taking down nests from trees. In passing a thicket by the wayside, he
looked in and immediately called out, “a big nest, blue eggs.” Judging
from the surroundings, I replied without taking the trouble to look at the
thing, “ a Catbird’s nest; let it alone.” We passed on and after a little
while a Catbird crossed our way. He saw the bird and I told him that this
was the Catbird whose nest he had just found. He wondered that a bird
of this size lays such large eggs. Inquiring how large the egg was, he
showed the size with thumb and index. I smiled and said it was not ’ex-
actly that big, but he insisted, and I concluded to walk back and look at
the eggs, when the discovery was made. Who cares to look into each of
the dozen of Catbird’s nests we find in the course of a season? We are
satisfied to know that this is the nest of the Robin, the Wood-thrush, the
Catbird ; but we do not think of taking the trouble to look every time at
their eggs or young.

#

Still more likely to elude discovery would the strange egg be in the other
Cookoo’s nest. In this neighborhood at least are the Cuckoo’s nests gen-
erally amidst such a terribly entangled mass of wild vine that we do not
care to go up for mere pleasure. I do not know how regular egg-collec-
tors go to work ; other ornithologists may operate differently. My case
may be no measure. I give it only to draw attention to the matter, and I
have made up my mind to despise no more Catbirds’s nests in future.—

O. Widman, St. Louts , Mo.

[Mr. Widman has overlooked a note which appeared in an early num-
ber of this Bulletin (Vol. II, p. no), where three instances of the lay-
ing of our Cuckoos in other bird’s nests are given. Years ago when I
used to take many Cuckoo’s nests each season in the apple orchards about
Cambridge it was no uncommon thing to find an egg of the Black-billed
species in a clutch of the Yellow-bills, and on more than one occasion,
but less often, the situation would be reversed. An instance of the lat-
ter kind came under my notice in 1878, when at Belmont, Mass., I found
a nest of the Black-billed Cuckoo which contained, besides two eggs
of the rightful proprietor, a single one of the Yellow-bill. Speaking
from memory, and without consulting my notes On the subject, I should
say that at least ten per cent of the Cuckoo’s nests that I have found
contained eggs of both species. But in no case have I ever seen the eg'gs
of either kind in the nests of other birds. — William Brewster.]

Bali, N. O.C. 7 , Jan, 1882, p. 5 % - 6 ' 7 .

Auk,vil“jkn°^0:i. O 3>T US , americanus ' Yellow-billed Cuckoo. — Tolerably
common. Familiarly known throughout the region as the ‘Rain Crow.'

1218. The Rain Crow and Log Cock. By Col. G. D. Alexander. Ibid.,

No. 11, Sept. 12, pp. 246-7.— On the habits of the Cuckoo and Pileated
Woodpecker. American Fiel& XXIV

442. Cuckoos. [Bv J. N. Clark?] Ibid., p. 189. — Eggs of the Yellow-
billed and Black-billed Cuckoos found in the same nest. Q,SsQ. VW.V1I

Yellow-billed Cuckoo’s Egg in a Robin’s Nest. — On July 2, 1902, while
examining various nests in a lot back of my house in Granby, Conn., as
was my almost daily habit, I found in a Robin’s nest with two eggs, an
egg of the Yellow-billed Cuckoo ( Coccyzus americanus). The nest proved
to be deserted, although early on the 1st of July, when the Robin’s eggs
were the sole contents, both birds were about. There is no mistaking the
egg; light greenish blue, 1.31 X .93, elliptical. — Stanley W. Edwards,
Granby, Conn. Aui, XX, Jan., 1903, p. 65 ,

Eastern Massachusetts.

/Sfff

Jo

JuJlj

0^

%L

j.

A.

03. /f'i**- Oi - /l.

&0-

-- ,.---— , , (* *iy

3°T? iWj ti<*.M*-/76 3oi .3f* /fflo

SJ.. L *V~ 0*- m Si. 6f- Si. ij, Si. (i,

* (s ! S\ /

QK / 3 -

* £ '

/c,

4L b'i- 74. ynC

Si. £t. fci.v 6p. 7iU.

7* . U> %' /#- ft' . Z 1 / * - Z/% _ A - (/>'% _ A* /L/ 0 ,

‘ , *■ *f , f fot. A

A //-o.-'i*-/ 3 -

W, „ $, £

'a* /_U/. /* -/O'.

l 5 t-t/-f» Z? "

JSL'XfJzzi IX9 o.

.10

k- I^Xj . / » -/3x-/t% 7X90,

, 1 , **-r "-'A <v. «. «~v

yy^j.u^. Q*.nun.u\ e .is\M% 3/i mi.

/xl no- xzLJoi.j/it d ^^j L /m

ySx- &*-..//(?**"■) <Z(c ./■ -3,9 • i . /JJ Z

%■ . <UL - **-. 3 - CJ-. IUL. -£s 2 ^k 3- C

% 9$Lr/r* 13 U

, AT* XoJ £/* U%'Z7# jL%. IjL(LX , „ /y

/tri/t-i .7 «, , ^.( ,, 3.#, 3.#. Mf- X-tf X.H 3.«- 3.//.

* 'J±±z 17 ** -Ll 30 * 3 /* /‘tf'rif-H’+ir ItyM fiizu*

JoJ. . py[ 7 \f /I. J'vtx-v o , - *-

_U-J^ Zi9o./i .r, .3% Jill. a^_ Av„. s/ /»?.

5 f c - ^

A' M/A

9 usj , I

. _ ; i. < 1 >* w •*« ’ ~ rv.rv./ , / I

/_* 9131 7/i 63 61 7% 3% /3 3 /9% /7 J A% /?% 33% 3-^/. /X?Z

,z ~ q - •* qu /tffi

/Jsw X/3.

j/%. 7 | -? Sf ^ 1^0 4 6 <rtAX^r!-oC / 5 7 ^;

1 ^ ^ k*/7*/ir!k/?i.aoU/* M*3* 19 % m -I

vT x

^ - TUxxjAAx Suo .
* ~

_ !X±9

fliuL if. CA..

/}7fTL33L/3i *J* ' lx 3

/*- 3~- /3 ( /Z/'/yS/) - JJjcC^n.^6 . /t/3 .

Xsfm. 1 9{z.*) - . j* . 3o ® •^/.^. _ ^ ^ 77 . 4 / 7 ^W n* u ,j£*wuti £yua#ia7 . /jfj

/m.

97 S^JXT V? ' 7 ' 3 0 jtrtlLx / '^/S. Ccr ooc^-ocL /X 9 %)

A

^ &yy ^ c-v^/ c^-yy A~<

Eastern Massachusetts.

. 7^! 0 yx-^y / %■

//i-aailACkA^ }~7 C-^/^cCaa~

t2-A~0~v—^ \flAAA

hu^z

>J Ca^cOxa^ Y c^-C^Cy j t<r^A/A_,

& y ~ffiAA ^-^yA<-^y--K- ^/ 7 AA^^s, ^-xAIA <ZcAf~*} /Ay ^0~*-<y

tAcAIAAx^ ( lX^ZZ 1^ 0 -*a. J'/AAajU '^*J~\s/A. tf

/'fi- '^Ay C-^'' C^l^_ ^t. <^- L-^-"^

^~k i y’ ^ v ^, t?^^<_- i*<->\s£/b_ si /^xjl. — c^-tv

<j^Ay-x^A.y 2^T /v~v^«_> i--

v-v *\/ ga^A\ . c^Ca_ /x^cAcA ^vUi. gy^yf , & .

C'^Ks^^XjU^ ,

xft'L**, t ^L-^S/XA. "H-- ^J^AAAAo-y^^A' t^lf^XKA? Aa ■/-"«—*-

^ ^-^>4 dr-^yyi tr-i~Ay- /U- ^A-^sO (*l^y lA-4 /v -->

i / ]yV'X^C< ^ [ lyyl _

-gA— ^<XX-A_ ^T/vt 1^3*.

<-_ ^At. Px^Ac^c,-/^. Ac^tA

^tsfr-AZ^AA^ f <5U ' < ^y /-Ac^x^r A

*-&- wy y^^Ay^ZZyi^ ^ /^c. ik/l^c^/XAt-^, d~J

<~ ^TAA’ y^ A^A^C A^AAis-f cyy ex^ -t-^o^/' n^v^yAx Af -

~7n/

O — U"?

~AAAC^, U<yAt^tyt\

/ ^■Z^V^w ^ . 7lt_JLA i^-iXH 7 /i

/^x^/i. $Ak*~ $-£*y*.-iyk.

^vvc/^ - ^)-

/

>i_c^-y ka fttAA*. ^~o~>yAc~

,.zX . e^r IAJ-&-4 £-v-y-4

7iZZd<^j: <*>4>7~&4AAtZL.

7

yny^A^-y-J *-r — AA^< , c^CAA A/ AAAl. sA> AjjUtA *~x^Ai\

^ /^e~&4c < *~ L Af^Cy^ y^-cy/^t . AZc?j£ ^rv-v y'

(£- $A\_a.^vL

t-'l-yL'X i^^yAx. ^-^0-^0 ^'' , yyt J^.-ih-^^. <^>

'<y^is^~ tcs&C- ^7 ^vi ^ 'Axy-7^^ &4S^c^

' / -f

^A^yi^y ^y^'\AAAAAAAA~ , \^<.-*A. # w <7-^

^\y'iy\y^-\yKy~y t ~-^ - -w l/ , '^J\---\j AAAAjA y^ ^Aj^y^Ay'iyAA\yy-v^y. <^<-Ap~V'\y^ &~-a~a_^/A- ^A^y <7-Aj'v-^/\yK^. K ^ _y

}^i7£zy U'-t^yyCy ^^a. by /u^l A-^Aiy yy^ -xA^y «^c /$ &AuAxaa^ y

£> -U , c^yzz<A-i ~*-*rx>^. ^ % fi-*kJ2 ^-c*. /fcZZA^f

A’{aa. yxr-KAA^y x^iyy^AK- ^^AAy h^styf

^ OUz^

7wv- fc-^iA. f'XSO—lA. 7-l/U_V ACtZ*. AxT^. Q,'C^r~ t <^^c#6 AAAAA**-A^*Cs ^c^AA^A.

fax*. K^LeAl- < ^ Jt ~ t <LAf-~A^AAAA-xjir^f

Ib-Asl 7«ov/ ^VX^J ^~yCy. y^As(ALj Va/J aZa,A. . ^A-a. chA(j4. t-'V'+A ^ x O'*. ^A<^U <A^xaaA^

WvA--t^V/C Wv-A-y UA>^t<A-\ TKy C^f~i'\A A ^Cv-^ l' 1/^*-^^

^Aaaxa\) &AIA I'X'iy Au~a ?L Aa^.. 4-x .A yt ^v<. tiAy a^ ^m^-4aa^

'^ v -A^Kt w frj I'-l^Xy (Ta^AZ &^s\ # C ^ ^ tAis&A 4vt (KaA*

QAtA- AqAC~~ AcA ' P*-" O t &eA-J L- - C-aa*C, ~~ C^Cx_-<. — Ct^C- J <^-0 ^ ^^^7° / ^“0 cA***-^ ^O , ^ ;

£*^**$~ o^ZL^ ^ 5S

Eastern Massachusetts.

(f

Z <4

(p « — - (J ^-»^o f£Z^ i^c ^Vt»-v0 ^7

^ v/^tA-0 £ C^-^~

CK^VA, ^X^VVw ♦/ ^Vvc- ^^v»- 1 <_A^ ^

Cx^c. ~ Ocx-'O - C ^X^< - <^C^C . ^0~0 f Oo-o f <2^v 0^7 ^-Zr~

(xd*~ *-^» (fl 4 *-*^*^, ^<7 (X^^X-'d-— C^t^y^< K-*j . P^'L^.

-^»A^ P*~- ^ 3 <^^Z--Vx\.

(^{dsKA^S. -£\S\ y^y^KuL ^trv^w 7 ? CL < 3 _ ^<-^x) a^&J~-ys^_ \s$T

y

/t^/Tu-v

c^ZT ft <X/(~ 6tu/ ^ ^77

£o-yCc

Ci^y'

v:

c^Cv y^V^v-. ^

/ V/-x/Z'Zv.

(y 4

{^/i^+y/t <xd-$~- K/ ^ m t ^v- t *VV \_^7 7

^ / 0 ~v-t^*- ^xr-v*_^y, 4 y' ^^v<f <^^u<^-c--c</ ^ 4 / ^€*d

^cdd-A^O — ^tsCA* ^^axsC

kJLKA^AA*-*

i'CP t aAtPa^ < 5 >
\

J Cv^ (L^JC CL^a^Jl., ^VT>a

■d (AJ-ii'd ^jk^aa -4 ^

J

/\

jL^tt-^ 444 . 44 44 ~ cb i^/f^ i^v/ — O' tddtf 4 s&

^ ^ /y

i$^. Lo^u[ Has^k O^ Cj^t-^A. l^lAtdLA ^ h^-OxAsy-^. <K ^ r? ^ u - 'kdCv^o Oa^aJJ^

' 6 £Zi^

(yJA 1 -t^vw ^ <W f^- 0^1 J 4 jA-Ar-y d'~ 6 -i^lA^O-l^lL- / cL<y-xs£-Ls t / Tfcc'C' 4 -^-'* cS.

$ 4 -, ^ 4 * 1 . ‘*■4 '^oXPi °^f> 44 /iLau ^ 4 - &aA &yptZ^ Ua<a.

t'l^r\ r C^. ^ L. ^ Pch'^y^P

( 2 -t~. y' ' * '^ tVWy /< #v ^_. 4 Pj/.f*. <P{_ — bsO{. , '4 4 f \* .- <Cv_

^- 4 ^— *- ^ *-y ^IA^VvoL^ /\J-<L tr-\- oL* iy v<_^-.yCi^<-»'A^ ( / t-<y o_^_«L-o< Ay/ 44 4 cV/

' V , -y. .

j-\~^ LatCZ^. k-^d/U frlx^y <U-^c y

CxA^cd/^ t-i-u &^Jsl < v\x^j Z^v_x- 6^x^tf ^<^Zw

4 Aa/\_^^ fit\^A*s( &y^£-sdy% ^ d\-At-s\s-s. <^Ax^Xu^ < 4 / C^y^/\A^Z

U-Aj ^V\A-y ^

^ fT^x^T ^fcv /^~C^t^i -' 4 a 5 y ^ <3 v ^.

(\*S^dx_s fVw^VC -ixv^ ^;^\.>V» (- t<^L? /i t-. .. r' ^^L./'y V^' *’ / /tit. 1 ' ' i ’^'4

t^Q '^Vi ^-& 4 Aj&-\sO <-* 4 w 4 C 4 tJv (C&PpPPt A^j 44 v

^-C^ 4 -^V_vC(J , ^ 4 -^ ^IsPePPZ- y^ 4 ) 4^4 4 ^^—y^-O-v, >-v*<^ % 4 K^t 4 v t

(\_ jy /^P/^J-Uc . (£-cAA c4 An^CPof-^ty, t^i-Uy Cc^ Mi^ y a^3 C^C Ou^-y 6 CuZPXy ZlZZT

y-y^y. tdl-l^y. O^cZT CLoPPPy^ y^> P~-y^yU C 44a. j^yjiCjey^y^ . r </Cj

ty^A-A^ \PZX* ’lAxPPy " 4 *wC *' 4 l^W-WCl^L 4 LLt^ ^U-icCxX^ ~- . I D S' Sk

57

47

/tf'sf hy^-

tA^y 7

fiio

j'yx o^'j / 3

KL 1 A.

y}-cA _ C^-A~

A C c^/u l/-rX ^-4

^ /f^x Xr

Cj/Ljcv

xj ^ tr-i^-v /fee (Aero- e 5 <n ? 7

/l

tA>e-. -/ O-^A y

^ ./j ile_- ^-'/- - e.r A~LL \ ^ ' / ll^ 1 ' v - 4 ' '/7 a t- ^ ^"' , ’ 1 ’ 1 ' '1 1 ’ ’y Jy S-t

7 TLv. ZcjZfcst ^ e 2 _ V-t^Sa^iZ.- A^iAe ^-^7 . &l*yt ^fe<- A /<

" 7 tA. Ct^eJj — Coc<_ i^-C. C-**~AA_ € ^ ^

C-'tr-i^ts i'^'c t, L ^ n_ v-/ ^yC fc, <Z-<*~ C-^c^A_.

$A>XJU t'XK. < h-

iy]

^7 ^ zCc^x a^£~rr-^Z% < 2 c*A y b-^^' < 2 o-o - Cy-y , <Vo - Co «3

/^LxA *^Vv Tfcv y ^ <JiyV ^ 3 v. ^ V ^)' Ct-t-fe. — <_ 7 ^ 7 ^“

fev_ . ^fcr - My el / /(,, eT' v ^Ay Y'-‘ i. . A. v _. j- T ^ e 1 ( ^ e a i */ ' ^T"" ^ < ? -e

/*

CjO^ 'LcCi-x*. /t «-eZ /tf <i • AT

' [i-AK V x 7e l -e A^v /etm A ^ l < 7/ CV f — ^ / / / v (fe r.

/ '

^ 6 *.

X_~ ^ SZ^L-t A~ /rX ^ i ^^- ^A/ZiAy

X-l 7 ^L^ 2 -CMfevt -V ^\/t^-\.. ^^ t '-'

A,

X'*-''- ^C-L r *^~^Cxs 4 CxsAA ^^V-v

... cfe^t

/ 7 o o ^ e 7 i.vu ^ fefe ^ &*XiZ A^^fev^n JtAslyZ a.

// Q &-/~tAy. etA AjLsU ZjulJa. 2 7 - £> Y^I l (./' ^ ^ , 7 ^*- f^- oL.

(TM..^, / 7 ri- v 77 c ^- Cet/_A. ■ <y&-Q ~ e-oy J ph ^ .

$-hA> C-Cr i isi*y tA Ly£\(iLA.^e-ty JiJ C A^ J ^y Atr-t-.^^iyL f y( ydy^ZT,

Oj 5 -L^jt_ °t*=*H?Arx^ 7 ^ Y ty-t-Al d^j-iAZ AC] <^AZtAZAy^,

1 L*I j^AX 4 A'' Ay cA, y tLy ^ ^ 2 ^^' x U'^V- X. ^ .

/^Ll^caJ^^Vv , _ ^AVLcksj / vfe^ / h\JiA CaX~ <^C ^-A^yt (Atr-y A/ CcA tr-^/[

/

)v{y

/PlzA-A i

fyOAsU? A/

^J^CAj^X. !\> f() t&A/'

2 c^ c 'lyy/x. a) A/AxAAA? /\^ £cs vfeL jL^yfr^

(\y£ 1 /^ 7 ^ Az<^y Z^-WlyC ^ 7 -^ , /r ^^l " 7 ^ y/i^<^\A*^yi 't*- > ~* : *-Z) A-t^YA^x sK-f /

lu\. OxaaZ<a Yy 7 t 7 tZ ^-‘^oi $7 TWu^V X A(_Xy 1 -- Yxa, !X-a YhA? ^Zc<Z> ,

77 u_ jj-\AL(Z-Z -TA-A ^-e^A^-irvA, < 4 C^v <^>/ c<Z£y 4 ^ Mly ;

c lX) QaJLxZ Hxs*. X*_»i_< 5 £

\. '^-~^A #—

^2 ^vX tf-CZfc.

^ Xyx^xj 9

y A<-f c \A. t^fe) (K^yl ^ l- (L CL y^A^oi V y*Cv<^X

H^jt

iVrx^y C#~v-c^ j C*t -A^ £~<x^\^A //Axl 4 LaAj*

■L\y<AK ov3T~ ov^v (V^ws. ^ Ka^ , ^l^4xX^ 0^>~~k A-c - bsAA A? $v_a.X •

<feWU.^tA4,

^ 1(^1 fej^K. Aaa. / j ^T, ^?cXov-v WVv

L- /j vA~^J O^^JL+J *-<! < 3 *- &-*L 2 ~ - ’ . Atx<i i'XL^ Cy .

Co~vOl*~vvC*

5 ^

Copied from Journal.

x\i. aesaoti lL . - -z v ~j j— #

f ' (J? /sAzaz y/£z*z^zzZ y*>z& Z/zs^ z&z*A%^zzr ; ^zz/^ /AZ^A-

^Z/Z Zz/Zzt'y r ZzZ- 6ZZO, /ZZ— Z^Z^> ^ . Z'/Z- '//ZSZ/ ,

Z/ZZZ^ Asz/ZzZ& Z/AzZzZz /^ ZZt^ZZZ^ y/Aoz^Zz

ZZZZZZ yZZzZzzZtyiZ’f

jUpzcy /j ^ZZ/z/ ^azrJ?-. /p y^zZ/^Azz zZ/Az //tz /zzsZtz //ZZy J? . 'zUzzzz^ /A//zA
/z//zZ?7 Z?zA yf^Zj/ZtZySZSz' ^Z^z/Z/z/zAA J& 2& ZzZZZ j/Z- z

Jbtezzz/£Z //zZ ^/TZy' sZ4^3Xt' Z/y/ZZ-Z/fy aZ^Az^zZczi^ -/ zZfZZtZ^Z/ltzA
ZZz6/ Zh£z 44 r ?‘2'- Z7-z/'~/ 7r ~ sZzszZ>& /ZZfzi' ZZ^ Zi- ZzZizr Z/%ZZZf

/(rtt£y Z?Z yf //?& ZPZZ4Z^ ZsZ/tizZ/' ZzZ ZzA /Y^/a

Abzrn . // ^^^z^zzzz/^ ^z/^yz^ tx&zzz&jY //£z yYzzzz^^

/jAA/ZZ/z y/i/YzzY YtAzrZ&ZZj' liZiZr/y /zz &> ZZ<Z C J? //ZzpfzAS; ^
j£/&zZ-/Y//$? ^Yzt/AjY A/tZ YztY/ZZ c^ZZZ^/f zzz/ /szsz/xZ' ZZZZZZ.

l/Y /?r^ ^7szz/i /f ^zzz/z//zf //ZZ' zzzzz zz/z&As: /U^zz/^ ^f

^/zSrf-ZZty ZZZ^Z /r^ zZ ^z/z/s ^z/z^Y, 0 zAz/ZY, S0ZZZ zz^/'

/YzzZ /zyY^fZszy' s&z/Zzz/y' Zty/' //zZZ ^Z^ZZtZzZ ,zzzzxA'

Z?zz/& y^z&rzzzgs /SZaz^p/.

r z/zz//t/z^j/£t j/CzZ/S/5^#/^ '’^Z

/gzyzd/ Z/Z Z^zZ-YY zZ/, ZZt ZUZzZjY^-Zr/?
SyZZZZY? {J //ZzzzzC //zz /ofezzslz- y/&Z$f ZZp#
/ZZZ Z%£s' z/ZzzZt/zz .

ZZ^C^/z/ZZ/ZT' Or .

f/t- Zz/du / /*

' *?/? C Y /ZZ^yZ-^^ZV^zy jfazzZY/Z ZTZZ^ZZ aJzZztS yOzrzzzZ-z/^'ZZy'

y^zzAz/SziY /^zcZTZyf /%zz*zz /Z //sY ^//ss zzzZZ / Yy' cA zZz* esri/vss-/
<Z/f Z yzf/ZZ^ ZZ SZ/rZZZZY S~A'/zZZ/€ YZySZ<'^ZZ zzz-ZA

Zt'/AAz- / ^/ / ^ZZ' ZzAz y/ j £y^y/'zzz& ^y^/^AyYz^z^zzsry^y

ZZZZZ^Sf . Z't'Z^A&SZ# SZzZ/AfZ>/yZ/j // Z/Z Z /6 Zz Z/<Z

/rZVZ/£ Z/t'c ./tfrZZZ-^Z A

V

CoGcyzus

ery throphthalmus .
lobster Lake, Piscataquis Co., Maine.

1399. Another incident which interested no greatly was the

!3ept.24. finding of a Cuckoo (black-billed) in the waters, of Lobster
Lake, September 24th, alive and attempting to swim with its
wings; but rapidly weakening and numb with cold or hunger.

The night of Sept .2Srd had been calm but bitterly cold, with
1/2 inch of ice in our water pails. At daybreak of the 24th
a violent southerly gale sprang up .which raged furiously all
day. At about noon my companions called to me that they had
seen a bird launch itself from a tree into the lake. In
about five minutes we had the bird in our hands. I found it
to be a black-billed cuckoo without any white on the tail and
with one tail-feather grown only to half-length, otherwise
normal and of large size. The bird was numb, unable to strug-
gle, and blinking its eyes. I carried it to camp, warmed it
in a box before a big fire, photographed it (out of focus as
it turned out), and for two hours tried to feed it. It siezed
raw partridge-slivers but rejected them. It ignored common
flies, "winged ants, an orange-colored spider and a yellowish
j poplar grub. And beyond these, the most painstaking search

failed to find a living insect in the region. In view of the
bird's evident and increasing terror and its refusal to eat,

I let it go. It -was fairly vigorous, but could not fly. But
its progress on foot with occasional fluttering w as fairly
rapid. I suppose this cuckoo will inevitably be starving;

Lobster

1899.

Sept .24
( 2 ).

Coccy.gus erMthronhthalnus .

Lake, Piscataquis Co., Maine.

i +

but you saw a certainty of starvation if I kept to fetcii south,
with me, as originally intended.. I suppose either that the
bird was born far north and was overtaken by the early frosts,
or that it was congenitally a bad flyer; or both. I presume
that I am not wrong in calling its occurrence in northern
Maine at that date a matter of unusual record, perhaps a full
month too late?

Copied frdra a letter to Vto. Brewster written
by Reginald C. Robb ins, dated Boston, Mass,

September 28, 1899.

J

<£/

/*?‘

!%

tArwA^y

AO

m

Penobscot Bay, Main©,

\LkxJA. j /^Oa, 1*4

Cw-&^6-0 4 aAXK»-L tA~

"C ^VU^W9 ^ /^A-VW»<1 *

(Ve . ton» . Caj-«w mi $JXL ,

^ . #WW IAjv^~j £*-*y%^ ^AWvl>| EJC* VLmJjC I aJ \i *V . V - t * 4 - *~0

(Q ** . ^£3v ^*v*» CMsJL^ tfsC’l* .

UJBl^ ^-+jUss*-j O^

2wu O«-C0v- C*-t> - CO-«j ,
J iu<+*-JL Uam< 0*sv clA^ aAvvt

1

Birds of Upper St, John,
BatobeMer.

7 8 Coccyzus erythrophthalmus ( mis.) Bd. Bi.ack-bili.kd Cuck-
oo _ Mr. McLeod records this bird in his notes, but without comments.
It was not seen at Fort Fairfield or Grand Falls.

Bull N. 0 . 0 . 7, July. 1882 . P .150

Last Bates Migratory Birds observed by
E. D. Wintle, Fall 1885, Montreal, Can.

Black-billed Cuckoo. |

O.&O. XI. Mar.l886.p. W-

vhuM'. J/w*' & Urticv, jju&f j

“ %iv«. //. M*

Same morning I took a ?
koo, which is rare here (in locahties where I

collect at uny rate.)

O.&O. XIV. Ay . 1889 *.A2<?

' Dwight, Summer Birds of
Prince Edward Island..

Coccyzus erythrophthalmus. Black-billed Cuckoo.— One specimen
obtained at Tignish is the only evidence I have of its occurrence on the
island.

3 Transactions Canadian Institute, 1891-92, 45.

4 Ibid., 1889-90, 9-11.

Auk X, Jan, 1893. p. 9 *

n, QaJJ&j

151. Coccyzus erythrophthalmus. Black-billed Cuckoo. — Regu-
lar summer resident, not uncommon May 15 to August 30; breeds (June
2 and August 12, 1889; July 6 and 20, 1895). Mr. Geo. E. Atkinson
records the finding of eggs of this cuckoo in nests of the Wood Pewee and
Yellow Warbler at Toronto 3 and Dr. C. K. Clarke records several instances
of the same thing at Elora, Ont. 4

63

OoS t "TM^Se' Je T*H°M Q S r‘ hOTM

49 ' J-> -ti, Montgomery, Jr,

•S88. Black-billed Cuckoo. Secured one
I specimen, and saw several others at Booth-
bay.

Oi%n dQ, JJbv.lsso, p,iQi

-gyplfebo rg, N . H, Jtin^ fB-1886. .

Birr's Ob'vd. near Holdernesb, N.H

June 4-12, '85, ancL4-ll, *86, W. Faxon

6. Coccyzus erythrophthalmus. Black-billed Cuckoo. — Common.
Auk, V. April, 1888. p.140

Bds. Obs. in Franconia, N.H. June 11-21
86, and June4-Aug. 1,'87. W. Faxon

4. Coccyzus erythrophthalmus. Black-billed Cuckoo. — Common.
Auk, V. April, 1888. p.151

Birds Ole. at Moulton boro, N.H.
July 21“ Aug. 11, 1883. F.H. Allan

Coccyzus erythrophthalmus. — Common.

Auk, VI. SaJL . 1889. p. 78

1894

Breezy Point, Warren, N.H.

-• 6 O M >v^ f/ W
/ ~ ^

@ .*** w* - 2 ? ;

Birds ©be. at Bridgewater, N.H.
Julyl2-»tpt. 4, 1883. F.H. Allen

Coccyzus erythrophthalmus. — Common.

Auk, VI. Ja*., 1889 . p. 76

Breezy Point, Warren, N.H.

c.

1895. / h

\y

U ' 7 i «A, di,o

t Wi JC,'

Birds of Hillsboro Co. N.H. June 27, ’03
Arthur M. Farmer, Amoakaag, N. H.

Black-billed Cuckoo, common.

O.& O Vol.17, Sept, 1892 p.136

Summer Bds.Mt. Mansfield, Vt,_

* Coccyzus erythropthalmus. Black-billed Cuckoq. — Common.

-

by Arthur H. Howell. _ Auk, XVIII, Oct., 190J, jr,

-jC , (V/l/v^_A. 5 . J S--Cr~ u-t_ , UL' ,

Ma

ss . ( near Concord). 1887

1887 , 4

JjU) ft. /oi,/6-

&KCc) 7 w

^yLAswl -*y

/f«7

LC , 9

•>?

Winchendon, Mass. June, 1888.

i ^-' jri -

, r. iffftvfyv* su ^-^ l ^ ttCUM^X

"Wellesley, Mass.

l£>

J_ diwt*

Birds of Bristol County, Mass.

F. W« Andros.

Coccyzus erytlirophthalmus (Wils.), Black-
billed Cuckoo. Summer resident, common.
Breeds.

O &O. XTI. Sent. 1887 p.139

S. W. Denton.

Birds Known to Pass Breeding Season

nr. Winchendon, Mass. Wm. Brewster

15. Coccyzus erythrophthalmus. |:

Auk, V, Oot, , 1888. p. 389

»,», OHi . na-’r Sheffield, Berkshire
CJy, Ums. June 17-20, ‘88. W. Faxon

7 . Coccyzus erythrophthalmus. Black-billf.d CucKOO.-Not rare.

Auk, VI. Jan. , 1889. p. 44

C 7

Bds. Obs. near Qrayloc k M' Berkshire
Oo. Mass. June 2S- July 16. W. Faxon

Black-billed Cuckoo, ( Coccyzus ery-
throphthalmus.) Quite rare. Its com-
panion, the “ Yellow-billed,” has never been
observed here, while this Cuckoo may be
seen (or rather heard, as he is very shy
and not easy to approach,) in the woods or
among the dense pine tracts. The nest is
simply a few sticks, made like that of the
Mourning Dove, and through which you
can easily discern the eggs.

^ A. l9.

//. A. i&il/rrt Accthttrvv dotsuJ'l, "C.P.

Q.&O. IX. May. 188-1. p.

Connecticut, June, 1893,

* %

/ CLA/V. /vli^

V —

>■ j-* 7 * *•* ?* /8*k^9J^5

'' « l%\Z 3 l W%

CAy~^^lsS-~v-y\_s

%■

AA. aA-0.A

^K^STV-f ‘ ~AaA>A ‘^V'V‘‘-,^v T ,:,'

^ /

^C^ZCf

*% •. •>'• ••-•• c‘ 0^u--U^, ^La^/aA^K.aJ^ jf\Ajh*AA&

i

^7* O^-AA V\M *vv &br-i/8

TtZx, YUste-^* ^At

^XC^v i^Jly^ V W^wt'

Birds of the Adirondack Keg-ion.

C. H, Marriott..

1 12 Coccyzus erythrophthalmus ( Wilson) Baird. Black-billed
Cuckoo.— Rather rare. Breeds about the borders of the woods, but is far
from common. ..

Bail. N.Q.Q. 1881, p, 232

Birds Tioga Oo, N»Y. Aides Boring,

38S. Black-billed Cuckoo. Rare.

0„ SO, SVa Jane. 1090, P-85^

91. Coccyzus erytkrophthalmus.

First plumage : female. Above lustrous plumbeous-ashy, feathers upon,
the crown, nape, and anterior part of the back, narrowly tipped with pale
ashy ; those of the interscapular region and rump, together with the scap-
ulars and upper tail-coverts, more broadly so with ashy- white. Outer edges
of quills light rufous. Beneath delicate pearl-gray, lightest on the abdo-
men, slightly tinged with pale brownish-yellow on the throat and breast.
Prom a specimen in my collection shot in Lincoln, Mass., June 17, 1871.
Autumnal specimens (probably only the young birds) differ from spring
adults in having the naked skin around the eye yellow instead of red.

PuU. N.O.O. 3, Oct., 1878, p. / 7 &-

Albinism and Melanism in North
American Birds# Buthven Deane,

Through the kindness of Mr. N. C. Brown I have been
enabled to procure a most beautiful specimen of the Black-billed
Cuckoo ; the plumage is of immaculate whiteness ; the bill and feet
are dull white, and the collector said that the eyes were pink. It
was taken in the vicinity of Portland, Me.

Bull N. O.O. 4, Jan., 1879, p, 29

0 .&O.XIV. Oct. 1889 P-l6^

Notes from Amherst, Mass.

June 25th, I took a Cuckoo which seems much
like a hybrid between C. erythroplithalmus and C.
americana. It has the bill and feet of the former
pr,u tl,p wino-s are nlentifullv colored, both above

l

'1'Z.

W. Middlesex Co. Mass.

June 25-30, 1889.

CVA-'iL-v<^'tv^

West Townsend, A s hby, Apparent&ly not common. A

1 ■ ■» 1 - ■■—■■■■■ ■ —" ■■■■ ■ ■- ryi

A s hby we heard two or three in the trees about the house at reg-
ular intervals of fifteen or twenty minutes, between the hours of
8 and II o’clock, p.m. They uttered a low “worroo", and, as nea-r
ly as we could ascertain, were young birds calling to one another
in the darkness.

A V

I

^ edl/ y

oJT ^

'fa-*. 'i-KA.^ZZ. <f7 / Z T A^-Z ^

<7 '

'^Q (A^A ZZZZZ.

— .-4 ^

w. Middlesex Oo. Mass.

Junw 25-30, 1889.

West Townsend, A hby. Apparently not common. A

■■ — ■■■■ — — ■■ 1 - — m

A s hby we heard two or three in the trees about the house at reg-
ular intervals of fifteen or twenty minutes, between the hours of
8 and II o’clock, p.m. They uttered a low “worroo", and, as near-
ly as we could ascertain, were young birds calling to one another
in the darkness.

ri

Cyct-y

j / ^ uX ^ tjL // ifo-^Z Ce ft l*y£+*^ t*Jo~* f ^

r /^v tvh-'

' t -/ ^l-l.

^ £

My <Uy^^<j> TZZ-

^ ~ZtZ^y l*j^zz* d &y

gfyxsK- &XsQ~4Li^ ^ ^

^Vo, U x D*

4m £*»t)

Black-billed Cuckoo’s Nest, with two
young birds, at the same time. •'f-^U*. J" 4 ^

s& C*~cL^u\eC

%J^i/jit> & b\*su/v, sC4s&AA*4t i

O.&O. Vll. Dec. 18Q2. p. /V V •

hjuFtXi^'j (yvrfcsb < j^v-m' /(^>/<rTst^i*- e^ucff/.
June 16th found a Black -billed
Cuckoo’s nest with six eggs.

& ,/Cz-^-ywx-.
Q,&Q. V311. Oct. 1883. ih 7P

d

Large Number of Eggs of the Black-
billed Cuckoo.

In The Ornithologist and Oologist for
January, 1886, -Mr. Harry G. Parker contributed
a very interesting paper on this subject, and
mentioned having found six eggs of this species,

( Goeeyzas erytJiroptliahnus,) in one nest. Mr.

Parker speaks of his experience as probably be-
ing unique, but on referring to the file of the O.
and O. for 1884, it appears that Mr. C. O. Tracy,
of Taftsville, Yt., described a nest of this bird
which contained three young birds and three
eggs . — Ornithologist and Oologist for February,

1884, Vol. TX, p. 1 7. O.&O. XI. Peb. 1886. p. / y.

Black-billed Cuckoo’s Nest, with two
young birds, at the same time.

^ ^VkUVv s0CcOO*s^&,

o.&o. Vll.Dec.18

d^:. p

/W.

(yvrtZsb

June 16th found a Black -bi lled
Cuckoo's nest with six eggs.

"Q.&O. Vlll. Oct. 1883.?. 7<r

\

Large Number of Eggs of the Black-
billed Cuckoo.

In The Ornithologist and Oologist for
January, 1886, ■‘Mr. Harry G. Parker contributed
a very interesting paper on this subject, and
mentioned having found six eggs of this species,

0 Ooccyzus erythropthalmus ,) in one nest. Mr.

Parker speaks of his experience as probably be-
ing unique, but on referring to the file of the O.
and O. for 1884, it appears that Mr. C. O. Tracy,
of Taftsville, Vt.. described a nest of this bird
which contained three young birds and three
eggs . — Ornithologist and Oologist for February,

1884, VoX. TX, p. 17. O.& O. XI. Feb.1886. p. /

Late Nesting of the Black-billed
Cuckoo.

BY S. W. DENTON.

I have to record the finding of a nest of the
the above species by myself on the 21st of
August of the present year.

The nest contained three eggs slightly incu-
bated and was composed of the following ma-
terials : A layer or platform of twigs on which
were a few oak leaves with a thin and sparse
lining of pine needles. Nest very shallow and
placed in an oak bush about seven feet from
the ground near a path on the sunny but wood-
ed side of a hill.

Was this a second laying this season? If not,
then the birds, as near as I can figure it, were
over two months behind time in their house-
keeping duties and should have been preparing
to leave for the South rather than imposing
upon themselves the burden of a family at that
time of year. Q & O. XU. Dec. 1887 p. Z04~.

Notes from Taftsville, Vt.

part of the eggs was of a grass green color, ^ - ^

and if my memory serves me rightly a set I ^ y

obtained and blew last year was the same. ^

I would like to ask the readers of the O. <fc (). r ^

HPT'*'

if they have ever noticed a similar thing and
if they who are posted can inform me if the 7^^^
contents of the Black-billed Cuckoo’s egg
always grass green, whether incubated or not,
and can the eggs of this species always be dis- ^ ’

tinguislied by this character even though the —

parent bird might not have been seen, and the
outwardly appearance of the eggs looks any- fg y Q
thing but normal? For if such is the case ^ , y 4
then this point should be generally known,

for it becomes a most important factor, at .
least in the identification of the Black-billed /
Cuckoo’s eggs. Shelley W. Denton.

Wellesley, Mass., June 4, 1889.

?<•

A Peculiar Nesting Site of Coccy-
zus Erythropthalmus.

During the present season I have taken
seven clutches of the above species, and have
been familiar with the bird from my early
boyhood, but had yet, up to June 4th, 1893,
to find a nest on the ground. In this case
the nest was placed in a clump of weeds
and within two inches of mother earth. The
bird was flushed, and both bird and nest
were typical. Two eggs, partially incubated,
made up the clutch. I should be glad to
hear from other collectors concerning their
experiences in this direction.

C. L. Brownell.

Nyack-on- Huds(fl,ff.fl. Yol tl8t Jx}l7l lQQ3 p.104

While out collecting, Aug. 6th, I found 5 *
a nest of the Black-billed Cucko o, which *
contained three young and three eggs.

One of the eggs proved to be nearly incu-j
bated, one about half and the other fresh.]

One week later I visited the place again.'^N
Upon my approaching the nest the young Cj
left it, but Mrs. Cuckoo had deposited |
another fresh egg, which was slightly flat-1^ *-<
tened on one side — it was the largest one ^ 6

of the clutch, its shorter diameter being. - *9

.89 and .88x1-27 in length; the other X ^
three measuring .86x1-19, .86x1.12, -86 X
1.11. The largest egg of this species
which I have taken before measured -84X

1 . 11 . : ■ —
warblers than cuckoos. About fifty feet from
the location of the former nest, I found another
of the same species. It was much more loosely
formed than the previous one, and it was placed
higher on a wild grape-vine, or rather, where sev-
eral of these vines intersected each other at a dis-
tiU ASfi» < if-u?il? l i) l y ’Jfev'enTull-page* engravings oFliirds
and their nests. The descriptions are much fuller
and more satisfactory than in the first edition, and
much new material is added. This will be found
especially noticeable in many species where de-
scriptions are for the first time given of the nests
and'qggs of very rare birds. The nomenclature
adopted is that of Mr. Bidgway ; and the work is
presented in very neat form, and will be welcom-
ed by m^ny. When it is published it will be
more fullwioticed in these^eblumns.

The Eggs of the White-tailed Hawk.

—

Not finding any account of the eggs of this
beautiful Hawk (Buteb albicaudatus,) in any work
with which the present writer is acquainted, it
has occurred to liiln that a description of them
would be welcome To the readers of The Or-
nithologist AND OOLOGIST.

Early in the spring of 1884, a party of gentle-
men consisting of MessrS; G. B. Benners, W. H.
Werner and T. S. Gillen, went on a collecting
tour to Texas. While there they secured many
rare birds and eggs. Among the species found
nesting near Corpus Cliristi was the White-tailed
Hawk. The country about thqre is destitute of
any high trees, and this fact caused the Hawks to
choose curious nesting places for Buteos. In the
Eastern States, and wherever thV have been
molested, this genus select lofty Vees, often
seventy or more feet from the ground/on which
to build their nests ; but near Corpus Clif isti the
Buteo albicaudatus found this neither possible nor
necessary.

A set of two eggs collected by Mr. Gillen’, .on

Qr O. XiAoau imp**

xeiiow-Dinea uuckoo, wmcli must have been
laid on succeeding days, as incubation was about
equally advanced in all. The eggs of neither of
these birds (being in no wise remarkable) need
any description here, but I will always associate
in my mind a certain damp, dark spot in Dela-
ware County, Pennsylvania, with the two species
of Cuckoo.

75

Late Nesting of the Black-billed
Cuckoo.

BY S. W. DENTON.

I have to record the finding of a nest of the
the above species by myself on the 21st of
August of the present year.

The nest contained three eggs slightly incu-
bated and was composed of the following ma-
terials : A layer or platform of twigs on which
were a few oak leaves with a thin and sparse
lining of pine needles. Nest very shallow and
placed in an oak bush about seven feet from
the ground near a path on the sunny but wood-
ed side of a hill.

Was this a second laying this season? If not,
then the birds, as near as I can figure it, were
over two months behind time in their house-
keeping duties and should have been preparing
to leave for the South rather than imposing
upon themselves the burden of a family at that
time of year. Q & O. XII. Dec. 1887 p. S.CJT.

Notes from Taftsville, Vt.

part of the eggs was of a gras
and if my memory serves me
obtained and blew last year was
I would like to ask the readei
if they have ever noticed a sii
if they who are posted can ii
contents of the Black-billed
always grass green, whether in
and can the eggs of this specie
tinguished by this character .
parent bird might not have be
outwardly appearance of the)
thing but normal? For if
then this point should be
for it becomes a most impi
least in the identification of
Cuckoo’s eggs. She

Wellesley, Mass., June 4, 1889.

While out collecting, Aug. 6th, I found'
a nest of the Black-billed Cucko o, which
contained three young and three eggs.

One of the eggs proved to be nearly incu-
bated, one about half and the other fresh.

One week later I visited the place ag - ain.'\

Upon my approaching the nest the young f
left it, but Mrs. Cuckoo had deposited v
another fresh egg, which was slightly
tened on one side — it was the largest one ^ O
of the clutch, its shorter diameter being. •

.89 and .88x1.27 in length; the other \ O
three measuring .86x1.19, .86x1.12, .86 X
1.11. The largest egg of this species
which I have taken before measured .84 X

1.11. I “ - ' ‘ =

warblers than cuckoos. About fifty feet from
the location of the former nest, I found another
of the same species. It was much more loosely
formed than the previous one, and it was placed
higher on a wild grape-vine, or rather, where sev-
eral of these vines intersected each other at a dis-
tance of about nine feet from the ground. The
the rd was more wary than the former one, and
3w from her home while I was yet five yards
iStant, hut not until I had positively identified
|r as the Black-billed species. This nest con-
fined six eggs, which, as I found upon preparing
tern later, were in all stages of incubation. Two
■ere on the point of being hatched, two others
'ere partly incubated, and the remaining two
•ere nearly fresh. As the number seemed to me
) be excessive, I sought all the information I

A Peculiar Nesting Si
zus Erythroptht

Some Interesting Facts About
Nesting of the Cuckoo.

11 Y UARRY O. PARKER, CHESTER, PA.

Imagine a rank and luxuriant undergrowth
where the grape, ivy and other climbing vines
throw out their arms to form a bower, situated in
an interesting valley formed by two gently slop-
ing lulls rising on either side, and through this
damp little glen a small stream pursues its wind
mg way. In such a place, remote from liuma p! 1 '’ Up0n the sub i ect from the works, of various
habitation I was collecting on June 5th, ofTie
past year, making my way on hands and and
knees, (for blackberry and thorny bushes
abounded too,) listening to the songs of Yellow-
breasted Chats, Maryland Yellow-throats and
other warblers, and wondering how their nests
could elude me so successfully; when casting my
yes upward, I saw right above me a Black-billed
Cuckoo on her nest, a critical and interested spec-
tator of this some-time quadruped. She seemed
enacious indeed, of her maternal rights, and only
eft the nest when my hand was about to grasp
hei so I was surprised to find, upon examination

During the present seaso that she was setting so hard upon only ^ egg
seven clutches of the above s The nest was beautiful, and unusually substantial
been familiar with the birc nr n n

a Cuckoo, being a platform of thorny sticks,
boyhood, but had yet, up to ets ’ Im catld ns, blossoms, grasses and strips

to find a nest on the groun collSnlTmuch thatTtook ^

the nest was placed in a . also not expecting to*

and withm two inches of mj On June 14th, (nine days later) I happened to be
bird was flushed, and bot a S am in this neighborhood, and again went,
were typical. Two eggs, pa tlnon =h this same thicket, but more in quest of

made up the clutch. I si
hear from other collectors
experiences in this directicj

Nyack-on-Huds<^,

niters, and in no case did I find a record of
lore than “four or five.” Then I consulted a
etter medium than any published writings,
arnely : the personal experiences of collectors,
loth in person, and by letter did I prosecute my
iquiries, but none had ever found more than
iur eggs in a Black-billed Cuckoo’s nest — two or
bree being more generally met with. So I came
o the conclusion that I was fortunate in my ex-
loit, if indeed my case was not unique, and I
et about reasoning liovv these six eggs came
here, and if the capture of the nest of the other
fil'd in close proximity, on June 5th was not an
qiportant factor in the problem. I concluded
hat the bird who was deprived of her home in
he first instance, had either surreptitiously de-
>osited her unlaid eggs in her neighbor’s nest, or
hat she being hard pressed to lay, had made
mown her complaint to the last named, who had
ixtended her hospitality to her stricken sister, as
iVould seem to be the case, and thus brought joy
«nd novelty to the heart of one oologist. Both
lie first nest and single egg, and the set of six
iggs are now in my collection, and the writer
irould be pleased if these lines would cause some
p tlier collector to state his experience as to the
complement of the Black-billed Cuckoo.

On the same day, June 14tb, not more than
one-quarter of a mile from the location spoken
of I found a nest containing four eggs of the
Yellow-billed Cuckoo, which must have been
laid on succeeding days, as incubation was about
equally advanced in all. The eggs of neither of
these birds (being in no wise remarkable) need
any description here, but I will always associate
in my mind a certain damp, dark spot in Dela-
ware County, Pennsylvania, with the two species
of Cuckoo.

75

S3. ( MiidieSiX Co.)

/m i

/o

Ji^t-

^tA^XAA. /O ^ ^***

^ J*UjtK /f/ ^ - , / ^ "\

w i >>-vd^c4^ ^ v/cum. ^6 y ^ ^*vi «£-* c (5^ ( J f **.ljp /v/J

^- ; ' A*y -/ ^<ttK ^«-t-CA

<*'*<♦'*. <| CiAj&ife a-c ^ ^ ^^vcT”

iS/ ^ tA ^ ^♦vtM*AVC /

”?fc ^ £ ^<-<i!

fei!u*-el Ay ^ Ceu£ f y ^«-tu

^ fl -l^-*-*i* 'l ^ ^^~y.

(^, ‘ V 2t4<^( ^VVUt*(f tv

^ l/

Aii

&

feJy&C

M^yls j

y

(f\sLAJ~L4. <£_ ^z<.

-fyu /hnrz^y^eAicA &I^Z~~ <u_ ^-u 't^i-x^

jjAvAy U4^_^ <^S

^Ko^y

^ ?~ u

7 £

1

By actual count, a single Black-billed Cuckoo
took 302 tent caterpillars from an apple tree in
less than an hour. So says JameS Clark of
Walnut Hill, Mass.

0,<SsO. XIIJ. July. 1888 p ///

The Cuckoo and Tent Caterpillar.

BY HENRY HALES.

The Tent Caterpillar has been very numerous
in Northern New Jersey this summer, too much
so for the farmers to keep them in check. At
the same time the Black-billed Cuckoo was also
very abundant, much more so than I ever re-
member, I noticed them carry on a deadly war-
fare on the tent caterpillar. In one instance I
saw the Cuckoo perforate a tent, pull out and
swallow five large caterpillars in succession,
and I have noticed them many times, engaged
in the same useful business. Those who so
often condemn the birds for not destroying this
pest would do well to observe a little closer as
this is not the only species that feeds on them.

When small and smooth many species relish
them, but when they get large and hairy they
have not so many enemies ; while the Cuckoo
swallows them entire, some smaller birds skin
off their rough coat before swallowing them.

It is possible the numbers of cuckoos here, has
been encouraged by the profusion of the tent
caterpillars. O.&O. XIII. Dec. 183C p.188

387. Coccyzus erythrophthalrnus (Wils.).
Black-billed Cuckoo. Summer resident, but
much more rare than the Yellow-billed
Cuckoo.

Q,

356 .. Our Tvjp^ Cuckoos breeding in One Nest.
Ibid., VI., p- 88 .''’

By Dr. II. A. Atkins.

?7

79

79

Connected

by Telephone.

A o < X /> t_ i ^ c ° ( c <

1ML. ABBOTT FRAZAR,

-Qaici'texm&t'

AND DEALER IN

Naturalists’ Supplies and Specimens.

ALSO, BUYER OF RAW EUR.

No. 93 Sudbury Street.

BRANCH --

GREENVILLE JUNCTION, MAINE.

Send Stamp for Catalogue.

(BOSTON, Mass Qe..t .. 2.4.., .16.9.6 . 1 ^

Mr. Wm, Brewster,

Cambridge, Mass.

Dear Mr. Brewster:-** What price would you o£fesr on a Bam Owl
tilled at Hudson, Mass? Killed about two we®ks ago. The sex
was not taken. I know of such a bird, and the pa rty may want to
sell it. I would like to know what you would care to give for it.

Yours truly.

Florida ,

Canaverel, Banana Greek.

A

/V

Said to be found in all the hamnocks of any considerable size
throughout this region. Mr. C. F, . Bailey killed four specimens in
December last on the edge of apatch of oak hammock on Merritt's
Island, shooting them in the evening as they were flying from place
to place. Mr. Quarterman tells me that they breed in hollow oaks
in the Mammocks, as well as in. deserted buildings, where they can
be had. I visited pepper Hammock twice in quest of these Owls,
finding three on the first occasion and one on the second, the lat-
ter doubtless one of those seen on the first visit. They inhabit-
ed a small grove of palmettos which formed a broad belt separating
a part of the hammock from the marshes which surrounded it, and
they roosted near the tops of the trees, among the bases oi the.
upright fronds. They were shy for Owls, starting when I came with-
in 15 or 20 yards of them and taking such long flights that it was
impossible to "mark them down" or find them again. Just before
taking wing they invariably made a loud crashing sound, probably
by their wings striking against the dry palmetto leaves at the.
base of the fronds. Their flight was erratic or flickering, giving
them very much the appearance of gigantic moths. One of those
which I started but did not get looked very white. It was evident
that they had roosted several days at least in the trees from which
they started. Under one of these trees lay a pellet of bones and
fur, and I found a skull which Mr. Chapman identified as that of
Neofiber alleni and which without doubt had been swallowed and
afterwards" ej'ected by the Owl. One bird which I wounded and fi-
nally secured alighted on the ground after it had flown 100 yards
or i more and sat very erect on its long legs. When on the wing
this Owl looks much larger than I expected, in fact nearly as
large as a Great Homed Owl. This is probably due to the size and
breadth of its wings.

U - S. NATIONAL MUSEUM

WASHINGTON CITY

The Barn Owl in Canada West. — Mr. T. Mcllwraith, of Hamilton,
informs me of the capture of Aluco flammeus pratincola in that locality
on the 9th of May, 1882. The bird is new to that place, if not to Canada.

— Elliott Coues, Washington , D. BttllNtO.O, S.ApU. 1883, vJlZ

/Sit'd 7loieS-

Strix pratincola. American Barn Owl— A specimen was captured
alive on a coal dock near the bay-front, Toronto, on September 7, 1899.
The bird died soon afterwards and proved to be a male. This is the only
Toronto record I am aware of, certainly the only one inrecent years.

7v. + C •

Auk, XVII, ApTil, 1900, p , '7/-

Occurrence of the Barn Owl in Canada. — In the Bryant Collection in
the Museum of Comparative Zoology there is an American Barn Owl
(Strix pratincola) taken by Mr. Louis Cabot at Long Point, Ontario, in
early November, 1899. The specimen (No. 1482) was secured for the
collection by Mr. H. B. Bigelow. — Reginald Heber Howe, Jr., Long-
1 wood , Mass. A.nk, XIX, Jan., 1QQ2,

1 1,

XX I V. (C/O'} 7^.

137 . Strix pratincola. American Barn Owl. — One record, a male
taken September 7 , 1899. 1

i Auk. XVII, 1900, 177.

t

Z3

3. Strix flammea yar. pratincola Bonap. Barn Owl. — Mr. L. C.

Daniels, of this city (Portland), has in his possession a specimen of this
owl which he shot in Falmouth, June 10, 1866. It was killed while fly-
ing across an open field. It has not, I think, been before recorded as found
in Maine.

Bull. N.O. C. 2, Jan. . 1877. p. X S’.

The Barn Owl in Maine : A Retraction.-Iu the Bulletin for Jan-
uary, 1877, p. 28, I added the Barn Owl {Aluco flammeus amencanus)
to the catalogue of Maine birds, basing the record upon a specimen, which
I had examined, in the possession of a taxidermist then of Portland. I
very much regret to say that I now believe the account given me of this
bird’s capture within our state limits to have been false. Several other
statements in relation to ornithology have since been made me by the
same man, of a character so improbable and with such contradictory
details that they can only be regarded as wilfully and utterly untrue.
Their author has recently left the city under circumstances which dispel
any doubts which may previously have existed as to the reliability of his
word. I cannot longer be responsible for a statement emanating from
, Cn.-mfil 1 v withdraw the name of the Barn Owl

such a source, and wish to
from

Brown, jran-uu.^

Vol. XII
1894 J

General Notes.

2 53

The Barn Owl {Stria t ■ -pratincola ) in Northern Vermont. — A male Barn
Owl was killed in a barn in Lyndon, Vt., June 4, 1894, and bought by a
gentleman in St. Johnsbury. The measurements of the bird were as
follows: Length, 16.50; extent, 45.00 ; wing, 14.00; tail, 5.50; bill, 1.00;
tarsus, 3.75. Its plumage was light in color and upon skinning, it was
found to be very thin and muscular as though it had led a hard life.

The first known occurrence of a Whip-poor-will ( Antrostomus vociferus)
in this town was noted on May 5. They are frequent ten miles south
but have not been known here before. — Martha G. Tyler, Curator of
the Fairbanks Museum, St. johnsbury , Vt. XJ July 1894: p 268

/ /h^w .

Sy-^y. £q .

4 ^, tvAfcfccrx^/T dbid(~e^ — ~$Z^ <C^-AAa^&o-^

tn ;L /,. /, t^U_^ AAd~ d-t^~ c &~^*-^*~*~ '-

7 / '

Capture of a Third Specimen of the Barn Owl in Massachusetts.—
Through the kind offices of Mr. J. A. Farley I have just obtained a Barn
Owl ( Strix fratincola) which was taken by Mr. C. T. Wood at South
Westport, Massachusetts, Dec. 30, 1888. It is a male in fine plumage
and was mounted by Mr. H. P. Babcock of New Bedford. Mr. Wood
writes that he shot the bird in a bushy pasture on ‘Horse Neck’, within
a few rods of a salt creek. The specimen is, I believe, only the third that
is known to have been taken in Massachusetts.- — William Brewster,
Cambridge, Mass,

Auk, VII. Ayril, 1S90. *. 2 0 5 ~

hu

A.

i 4/^H.

(X

American Barn Owl ( Strix pratincola ) . — Although Massa-
chusetts records of this owl have multiplied of late, there is per-

haps still roonT'for one of a bird which was taken at Worcester,

Massachusetts, May 23, 1891, by a young son of Mr. Charles K.
Reed, the well-known taxidermist. Mr. Reed mounted the bird
and afterwards sold it to Mr. John E. Thayer in whose collection,
at Lancaster, Massachusetts, it has been for some time. A few
months since, Mr. Thayer, learning that I was anxious to obtain
a New England example of the Barn Owl, most generously sent
me this Worcester bird with his compliments. The specimen, a
male, is well mounted and in fine condition in every way.

Auk, XVIII, April., 1901,

&. fi- 1

) C. 6-

M / o •

oU L*

The Barn Owl in Massachusetts. — A Bam Owl ( Strix pratincola )
was taken at Weston, Mass., Nov. 14, 1906, by Mr. Charles Merriam.
The specimen is now in my collection. — John E. Thayer, Lancaster,.

Mass.

Auk, 24, Apr., 1907, p„

Coi. Bostos Soc. Nat. History*

f-7

Auk At, Apr-ieoa.p,

Barn Owl in Massachusetts.— On Oct. 21, 1915, a fine full plum-

aged male Barn Owl ( Aluco pratincola) was taken m a trap on my p ace
at Wenham, Mass.— J ohn C. Phillips, Wenham, Mass.

///£ /? 77

The Barn Owl (Aluco pratincola) in Massachusetts. — On October
31, 1915, a male Barn Owl was captured in Longmeadow, a few miles from
Springfield, Mass. There is but one other record of the occurrence of this
species in so much of the Connecticut valley as lies within the borders of
Massachusetts. — Robert O. Morris, Springfield, Mass.

Aluco pratincola (Bp.). Barn Owl. — A female specimen of this owl
taken by Mr. Chas. Fowle on June 10, 1915, at Lexington, Mass.

c4i4i.XKX///.|u^' /<}/(>• 'jP- 3 2,9

The Barn Owl (Aluco pratincola) in Western New York.— The writer
wishes to record the capture of the Barn Owl in thfe town of Eden, Erie
Co., N. Y. Noting a mounted adult specimen of this species in the taxi-
dermist’s shop at Hamburg, he was surprised to learn that the bird was
taken on a large produce farm about fifteen miles southwest of Buffalo.
Subsequent correspondence with the owner of the farm revealed the fact
that it was captured alive in a silo during the month of April, 1916. The
bird was first seen in the barn about 5 o’clock in the afternoon, but flew
into the silo when attempts were made to catch it. Here it was easily
procured by closing a small door.

Rumors of the occurrence of this species in the town of Eden have come
to the writer’s attention several times within the past ten years. How-
ever, Mr. Wm. D. Henry, the owner of the present specimen, states that
he never saw a bird of this kind before and is inclined to regard such state-
ments as erroneous. — Thomas L. Bourne, Hamburg , N . 1 .

S

tva

, 3 Ye*-Y<Ct -—' {£ 4 ^ P'-<u^^ oC

irHs JJX JU / £ ^ f / $*0 „ /Y ^

i)TYZYj flrt nA^' < -*^ 1 *'

yhr CY *

^ 4xt^cr l ^,*' 1 1 -^

4 W\

/u,. 3o, W'

’7a /

(l 6 hsj ( ^

/rvwT f Jf~ ■ $o , t'f'i /■

fi pVl ^ /TTv^ ^ C /V%<- 7 <.

£ lo-vv-c^ J , <^ r l

General .Notes

Strix pratincola. — A female Barn Owl was shot at Leesville, a dozen
miles south of this place, June n, 1891, and brought to me alive. This

is the first instance known of the bird’s occur re nc ( eJji this vicinity. Six | o

are on record from different sections of the State/ ^

7 Auk X, April. 1893. P.207.

a&oC 'mo , In. )

£j fu~ ^ c£eu^ f -

There is a Barn Owl in
my room at Noank, and an Eider Thick shot

from duck blinds off th|s point.
( 0 .i(D. XVI. p.S^j- 0 , 0 .

*fb

New York City Owls.— Strix o ratincola . American Barn Owl. — O n
April 13, 187S, Mr. Joseph Wilde brought a fresh specimen to Mr. Edward

Strix flammea americana. Barn Owl. — Mr. H. B. Bailey informs
me, that late in the afternoon of April 5, last, when passing up Fulton
Street, New York City, his attention was directed by a crowd of gaping
“ citizens ” to one of these birds perched upon a house-top, over the street.
The bird did not offer to fly, and was left where it had been found, a distinct
view of course rendering the identification absolute. Mr. Akhurst has
“repeatedly” observed it about Snake Hill, N. J. ; and two specimens
taken by him on Staten Island are now in the collection of the Long
Island Historical Society.

Numerous other of our more southern birds have been recorded from
the vicinity of New'York City, which lack of space will prevent my men-
tioning here. With regard to Goniaphea ccerulea, however, it might be
well to state that besides the specimen recorded by De Kay,* as having
been taken on Manhattan Island, Mr. Akhurst in a single day, many
years ago, noticed several specimens about Snake Hill, N. J., and again
on Long Island, both. instances being in the spring. The same gentleman
is aware of several (five or six or more) specimens of Gyanospiza ciris hav-
ing been taken on the coast of Long Island, near the Narrows, and he took
two specimens near Brooklyn. All of these birds were in fine plumage,
and bore no evident signs of having been caged, agreeing in this respect
with a male specimen taken at Riverdale on July 13, 1875, which, how-
ever, was in somewhat worn plumage. In the “ Elliot collection ” at the
Central Park Museum, I recollect having seen a fine male specimen labelled
“ New Jersey.” It is within the range of possibility that some of these
birds may have wandered northward out of their proper habitat, but the
popularity of this species as a cage bird, together with the absence of any rec-
ords from along the Atlantic Coast north of its known range, would render
such a supposition improbable. On the other hand, however, the condi-
tion of plumage in which the birds were taken, as well as the appearance
of the bill and feet, are evidence which would argue in favor of their be-
ing wild.

* Birds of New York, p. 146.

Bull. N, O.O. 3. July, 1878. p. /J 2 .

3. Strix flammea var. americana. Barn Owl. — A farmer, a
mile or so north of the village of Sing Sing, found in January, 1873, a
fine specimen on the open barn floor. It was frozen stiff, and hardly
a feather on it was displaced. He took it to Dr. G. J. Fisher for identifica-
tion, to whom he afterwards gave it. The Doctor had it mounted, and it
is now in his collection. n lx /

Bull. IT. 0,0. 4, Jan, |879, p £/•

Bird Notes from Long Island, N.Y.

William Dutoher.

16. Strix pratincola. American Barn Owl. — Since my record of the
breeding of this species on Long Island* I have heard of the capture of a
specimen. Mr. Knoess wrote to me as follows : “I see by reading ‘The
Auk,’ that you mention the Barn Owl as being a rare bird : I mounted a
beautiful specimen, shot November 20, 1886, at West Hampton, Suffolk
Co., a female. It is the first one I ever mounted on the Island. My friend
who shot it saw it perched on a tree near the post office, between one and
two o’clock, P.M.

The American Barn Owl near Troy, New York. — In my collection is a
specimen of Strix pratincola in rather dark plumage, lately received from
Mr. A. E. Weinbender of West Troy, who informed me that he shot the
Owl November 19, 18S8, in a clump of poplar trees, where it had just been
mobbed by Crows, on Weinbender’s Hill, about one mile west of the Hud-

son River at Troy, N. Y.— Austin

Strix pratincola in Western New York. — On July 5, 1890, a live Bain
Owl was captured in Buffalo in the warehouse of a large tannery close to
the New York Central R. R- Station. The bird had probably entered the
building during the preceding night through an open window, and fail-
ing to find the same means of exit was captured in the morning. It was
a fine full-plumed male. It was kept by its captor for a number of days
before it came into my possession. It is interesting to note that the few
days preceding the bird’s capture were very hot, and that the nights were
also warm. I know of only one previous record of the capture of this
Owl in Erie County, and of but few elsewhere in this region.— W. H.

1 , M. D., Buffalo. AUK, VII, Oct, 1890, P. 4/ ro

Bergtold, M. D., Buffalo.

r F. Park. Troy, JV. I. .in

jVtosJ&B, 1891.P. t'* 1 '

On the Occurrence of Three Rare Birds on Long Island, New York.

Strix pratincola. — Mr. Wm. Conselyea of Brooklyn has a mounted
specimen in his possession, which I examined and identified a short time
ago, and which he has permitted me to record. He shot it at Hicks
Beach, Long Island, about January 10, 1892. Mr. Conselyea was walk-
ing along the beach about four P.M. when he saw a large bird flying

steadily and noiselessly over the sand hills towards him. He shot the
bird, which makes the fourth record from Long Island'

Auk X.Jan. 18WS. p.90.

Butcher, Ra: e Long Island Birds.

Strix pratincola. American Barn Owl.— This specimen came from
Bay Ridge, Kings Co., and was purchased by Mr. Akhurst from some of
the local gunners in that neighborhood. This and the following specimen
were procured many years since when all that tract of country about Bay
Ridge was farm or forest land, and was not occupied by dwellings as it is

now.

Auk X, July, 1893 p 276.

92 .

G-6Dor<vl Ti otos.

Strix pratincola in New York.-A fine female Barn Owl, now in my
collection of mounted birds, was shot September 13, 1891, in the town o

Pitcher, about three miles from this place.-HENRY C. Higgins, Cmcm-

natus , New York.

Long Island Bird Notes. Wm.Dutcher

16. Strix pratincola. American Barn Owl.— Mr.
GiraudJ does not include this Owl in his list of Long Island
birds, and Mr. G. N. Lawrence§ simply says, “Barn Owl, rare.
An instance of the breeding of this Owl on Long Island has
recently been brought to my notice by Mr. Langdon Gibson, of
Flushing, Queens Co., as follows: “May 30, 1883, Mr. C. D.
Gibson caught four young Barn Owls in the steeple of the
Congregational church in Flushing. On his reaching the staging
where the young birds were, one of the parent birds, the only
one present, flew out of the broken window and escaped. The
young birds crowded up into one corner and made a peculiai
hissing sound. The floor on which they weie was in a filthy
condition, covered with pellets, and dead rats and mice in all
stages of decomposition. There was also one young muskrat
and some moles. The young Owls appeared to be of different
ages, no two being of the same size. They were afterwards
confined in a cage near my house, which was about a mile from
the church. They kept up such a screaming that the old bird
found and afterwards visited them every night at dusk. They
were kept caged until early winter when they died, apparently
without cause.”

Auk, S, Oct., 1886. p. VJf* HO ■

+ Birds of Long Island, 1844.

5 Catalogue of Birds observed on New York, Long, and Staten Islands, and the ad-
jacent parts of New Jersey. Ann. N. Y. Lyc. Nat. Hist., VIII, p. 281, April, 1866.

Auk, XII, Oct. , 1895, P . 3 $ 3 ■

i -

Strix pratincola. — A male Barn Owl was shot just outside the city
limits at Pine Hill on July 18, 1895. I saw it at the taxidemist’s a few
days later.

Auk, XVI, Jan., 1899 , p 8 S'

Rare Birds on Eastern’ Long Island. — American Barn Owl (Strix
pratincola). On Sept. 30, 1898, a fine specimen of this bird was sent me
to mount from Gardiners Island. It had been caught in a steel trap, and
was in good condition. On October 12 another specimen was sent me
from East Marion, L. I., which had also been caught in a steel trap.
This was a male — the former a female. The stomachs contained the
remains of field mic t.-W', Ill's K ,/T*w ‘

Strix pratincola. — The Barn Owl is rare enough on Long Island to
justify mention of each instance of its occurrence. The specimen here
referred to was taken at Gardiners Island, and thus constitutes one of
the more northern records for the species. Mr. E. B. Muchmore of East-
hampton is the possessor of the mounted skin of this specimen. Here it
was seen by the writer last summer (1899), and in reply to his inquiries
concerning it, Mr. Muchmore writes: “It was picked up on Gardiners
Island during the very severe weather of last March. It was very thin
and had one foot broken. I should not have tried to save the specimen
if it had not been a stranger to me.” In a subsequent communication in
reply to an inquiry regarding the remote possibility of its having drifted
ashore and hence involving a suggestion of other than natural causes for
its presence here, Mr. Muchmore says that it was found away from the
beach and that there were no indications of its having been washed
ashore. He writes: “The Barn Owl spoken of was found away from
where the water could possibly have washed it ashore ; and, furthermore,
its condition indicated that it had not been floating in the water.”

Auk, XVII, Jan. , 1900, p. 7o.

Strix pratincola. American Barn Owl. — About the middle of
September, 1898, Mr. Charles L. Smith of Utica was driving in the
adjoining town of Marcy, when he saw an Owl in a tree beside the road.
While he was watching the bird, it left its perch and flew to a neighbor-
ing barnyard where it proceeded to “chase the chickens.” Mr. S. left
his horse and went to the rescue of the chickens, expecting to see the
Owl fly away, but instead, it sought safety under the barn (perhaps having
been there before). Mr. S! crawled in after the bird and captured it alive
and took it home with him. He kept it alive for some time but finally

had it killed, mounted and placed in the store window, where I saw it and
obtained from Mr. Smith this account of its curious capture.

Strix pratincola. I am enabled, through the courtesy of Capt. J. G.
Scott, to record an additional specimen of the' Barn Owl from Long
Island, taken at a point near the locality at which the one I previously
noted was secured (Auk, XVII, 1900, p. 70). The present record is that
of a specimen shot by Capt. Scott at Oyster Pond, Montauk, Sept. 25,
1900. I have not examined the bird; but his graphic description of the
1 Monkey-faced Owl ’ in question leaves no doubt as to its identity.

Auk, XIX, April., 1902, p . 6

The Barn Owl on Long Island. — When Mr. Beard made the record of
this species in ‘The Auk,’ Vol. XIX, p. 398, he evidently had overlooked
the previous record of the same family of owls in Vol. Ill, p. 439. —
William Dutcher, New York. ,

Auk, XX, Jan., 1603, p »/>

Barn Owl on Long Island, N. Y. — On April 23, 1902, Mr. James
Forster, Superintendent on Harbeck Place at Islip, L. I., sent me a fine
adult American Barn Owl ( Strix pratincola ) to be mounted. The bird
was in fine plumage but rather thin in flesh. No further data could be
obtained, as Mr. Forster moved away shortly after. — Henry Mott

Burtis, Babylon , L.I. XX, ApI%> 1903i p

91

The Barn Owl on Long Island. — From Doctor Braislin’s ‘ Notes con-
cerning certain Birds of Long Island,’ published in the July number of
‘The Auk’, I am led to infer that there has heretofore been some doubt
about the presence of the Barn Owl on our island. It may be of interest
to Doctor Braislin to know that a pair of these owls formerly inhabited
the steeple of the Congregational Church on the corner of Lincoln Street
and Browne Avenge, Flushing. For many years I knew of their pres-
ence there, but did not divulge the secret for fear that they might be
driven away by the church people. No doubt they would still be there
had not the church been overhauled and new glass put into the steeple
sash where the birds were wont to enter. The owls shared the steeple
with a colony of pigeons and brought muskrats and other small mammals
to their young, although there were fat young squabs within reach.

Mr. Langdon Gibson, brother of Chas. Dana Gibson the artist, was also
aware of the presence of the Barn Owls in the Congregational spire.
Gibson was then a lad and he climbed up to the nest securing two young
owls, if I remember aright; at any rate, he brought me one which I kept
for some time and from it I made a number of drawings and still have
them in my portfolio. Of all the creatures I have ever sketched there
are none so absurdly comical in looks and action as young Barn Owls,
and I can well understand the cause of the popular name of ‘ Monkey-
faced Owl’ applied to these white-faced, beady-eyed young imps. — Dan.
Beard, Flushing , N. T. Auk, XIX, Oct., 1902, p

Capture of the Barn Owl {Strix pratincola ) on Long Island, New
York. —This species is sufficiently rare on Long Island to make it worth
while to record a specimen shot February 17 , i9°3’ Montauk Point.
The bird was sent to me by Mr. Everett C. King, who wrote that it had
been seen flying about for two or three days after a hard snow stoim.
He also stated that this bird and one shot two years ago are the only ones
of the kind he has seen in eleven years. — Jonathan Dwight, Jr., M. D.,
New York City . Auk, XX, Oct., 1903, p. H 3 Y,

A Philadelphia Collection of Eggisof

the Raptores.

Aluco flammeus americanus. American Barn
Owl. One set of ten eggs, one set of seven, one
set of six, two sets of five. Total: five sets,
thirty-three eggs.

O.&o. XIV. Mar. 1889 p.4/~

Collection of Raptores Eggs. J.P.N.

American Barn Owl,

2-5, 1(5, 1-7, 1-10,

O.&O. XV. Apr. 1890. p. 53

, Large Set of Barn Owl’s Eggs. P. E. Kent, Poway
Cal., writes us, “ While on a collecting tour on April 1st, I
found a fine set of Barn OwPs eggs, {Aluco flammeus amer-
icanus) The nest was placed in a Sycamore tree about
twenty-five feet high, where a large limb had been blown
out, and having rotted had formed a hollow one foot deep
and two feet in diameter. The eggs were eleven in number
and were in all stages of incubation, from perfectly fresh
to those that were well advanced, but by carefulness in
1 succeeded in getting them in prime condition.
Would like to ask if any one has a larger set?”

O.&O. X, June. 1885. p.

/ Near this same place a week before I had
taken four eggs of the American Barn Owl
(Aluco flammeus americanus) from a hollow
stump about twelve feet up, so thinking I
might possibly find as many more I stopped to
give them an afternoon call. Upon reaching
the tree I gave it a loud rap with my climbers,
and immediately both birds flew out upon the
nearest tree, and after giving me a wink and
nod they flew away into the dark woods. I
again climbed to the top, and to my surprise
and pleasure found three more eggs, which I
consider the balance of the clutch.

This stump had been a large hollow tree,
but had been broken off about twenty feet up,
and the eggs were placed at the bottom of the
hollow, about eight feet from the opening.
To secure these eggs I let myself down in the
tree feet first, but had much difficulty in
reaching them with my hands, but at last
succeeded.

Were you ever in a hollow? How the wind
did howl as it passed above the opening, and
I you could hear the rain patter upon the tree
trunk; I imagine it must have been a very
cozy home for these owls. The bottom of the
liollow was lined with fur of the Rabbit, and
a number of curious pellets adorned the out-
! side of the nest.

j A • • -t- C A .

6+O.ZLS . itri-/*- "*■

The American Barn Owl Breeding at Washington, D. C., in Winter. —

One or more pairs of American Barn Owls ( Strioc pratincola ) have
been known to breed for a number of years in one of the towers of the
Smithsonian Institution, and eggs of this species taken here in June, 1861,
and June i, 1865, are now in the United States National Museum collection.

On Dec. 8, 1893, a young bird which had but recently left its nest (a
good deal of down still showing through its plumage) was caught by one
of the watchmen and turned over to the Ornithological collection, where
I saw it while still in the flesh. This specimen was probably hatched
some time in October, and I considered this a rather remarkable, late
breeding record at the time. On Feb. 27, 1895, another specimen of
about the same age was picked up in a bush in the Smithsonian grounds,
in which it became entangled, and this was certainly not over two months
old and must have been hatched in the latter part of December, 1894, if
not early in January, 1895, certainly a most unusual time of the year for
this Owl to breed in this latitude. — Chas. E. Bendire, Washington,

D C . Auk, XII, April, 1895,

American Barn Owl.

FURTHER NOTES, SEE NOS. 13, 14 VOL. VII.

At the time of writing the article on the
Barn Owl which appeared in former num-
bers of the O. and O. I did not have
ready access to my collection of eggs of
that species, hence omitted saying anything
regarding their average measurements,
shape, color, etc.

I have examined and taken measure-
ments of forty different specimens. The
largest one in the lot measured 1.76x1.50.
Two measured 1.80x1.30, these being the
longest eggs in the lot. The shortest
specimen measured 1.60x1.30? The egg
of greatest shorter diameter is 1.76x1.50
— the first one mentioned; the one of
least shorter diameter being 1.70x1.20;
another very slender one measures 1.72 X
1.22. The average measurement of the
forty specimens is 1.69 X 1.32. The largest
egg of the Bam Owl that I ever saw is
one of a set of eight eggs now in the
collection of Mr. Jos. M. Wade, and meas-
ured 1.97 X 1.40 ; the other seven are of
the usual size. There is considerable di-
versity in the shape of the Barn Owls’
eggs, as is partially indicated by the above
figures. Some are quite slender, the one
most so being 1.70x1.20. This egg tapers
almost uniformity from the centre toward
each end. The specimen the ratio of
whose diameters approaches most nearly
to unity measures 1.62 X 1.36. There seems
to be a greater difference in the shape of
the two ends of the Barn Owls’ eggs than
there is in those of the Screech, Burrow-
ing, Long-eared, or Great-horned Owl. In
a few specimens both ends are nearly
rounded, while in a great majority the
small end is much more tapering than the
other. Thirteen specimens in my collec-
tion are decidedly pyriform, while twenty
others may be described as pyriform, but
they are much more bluntly so.

The structure of the shell is very differ-
ent from the eggs of other species of owls,
and seems to be less compact in tex-
ture, and the surface is not of that glossy
smoothness which belongs to the Burrow-
ing and other owls ; it has a more chalky
whiteness, a more dead, non-lustrous white
than they. There is a certain oily appear-
ance about these that is entirely wanting
in the eggs of the Barn Owl.

Capt. Bendire writes me that he thinks
the eggs of the little Saw-whet Owl
{Nyctale acadica, Gmel. .Bp.) most resem-
ble those of the Barn Owl in this respect.
Having no eggs of that species by me at
present, I am unable to make any compar-
isons of them. — li. W. Everman , Bur-
lington, Oct, 1882 , p , /**

The Barn Owl in California.

BY CLARK P. STREATOR.

If you will look carefully and examine hol-
low trees, church towers, deserted buildings
and rock cavities in the cliffs, in one of Califor-
nia’s bright days of sunshine, you will usually
find a resident at home. By approaching cau-
tiously to the entrance, you peep in and observe
a fearless looking, sleepy bird, crouched down
upon a bed of hair and bones. He will at once
begin squinting and looking at you, sometimes
almost turning his head upside down. You ad-
vance to catch him and he will make a noise
like escaping steam, and should you catch the
bird without getting your wrists and hands
lacerated by its sharp claws, you can consider
yourself lucky.

But the Barn Owl is of untold benefit to the
California planter, and no other California rap-
torial does as little havoc and as much good as
this species. Where I have observed the bird
in Southern California, it feeds almost exclu-
sively on gophers, which is the crop raiser’s
worst enemy. My experience goes to show
that the old birds stay in the same home ,
throughout the year, but on taking one
specimen, I would go again in a few days and
find another in its place, and by continuous ob-
servations I would be able to find an owl there
every mouth in the year.

In the cavities of several live oak trees, I
have found the cavities filled a foot in diameter
and three feet deep, with nothing but pellets of
gopher hair and bones that were thrown up by
the owls. In California, the Barn Owl begins
to lay in January, the number usually varies
from three to five. On several occasions while
examining their nests when the old birds were
not around, I found the eggs were covered to
a depth of an inch or more with gopher hair.

The downy young birds are very interesting
to study. When disturbed, they keep up a con-
stant buzzing, hissing sound, so that one might
mistake them for a colony of bees.

While a single brood of young birds are be-
ing reared, the number-of gophers that the old
ones destroy will amount into the hundreds.
Mr. P. C. Higgins, a prominent horticultur-
ist and a very reliable man of Southern Califor-
nia, daily observed a brood of these birds from
the time they hatched until they left their nest.
He says that there was rarely a morning when
there were not a dozen gophers lying at the foot
of the tree. They were the surplus after what
they had eaten, and the number that he collect-
ed was so great, that the dogs and cats made
daily visits to the tree to feed upon them.

O.*0.XlILJnL.lB88 p.109

Nov., 1883.] AND C

Enclosed please find a photograph of a
pair of Owls which have been on exhibi-
tion here for two or three weeks. The
owner says they are the only pair in the
United States of North America, and are
native birds of Tartary. The photo is
a very fair representation. He calls them
“ Monkey-faced Owls.” The bill proper is
very small, but the mouth extends almost
to the eyes. Eyes as near as I could see
were very small. Iris dark hazel. Back
dark brown, marked very finely, breast
speckled with brown, bill blackish, crown
finely mottled, no tufts, tarsi long. Two
pair were taken at the fort at St. Augus-
tine, Florida, last February. One pair was
bought for some scientific institute in
Ohio but escaped. P. T. Barnum, the man
says, offered him $500 but he refused.

If they are American birds they are a
cross of Barn Owl and something else. —
IF! P. Tarrant , Saratoga.

A specimen of the “Monkey-faced Owl,” a rare bird, was
recently captured by Captain Pitts, of Orlando, Fla., in the
Everglades. It is described as being somewhat smaller than
the Hooting Owl. The plumage has the soft, furry texture
of the owl family, but a tinge of orange enters into the
color. The head and face are those of a baboon, the face
being white, while the eyes are much smaller than those of
an owl of the same size, coal-black and somewhat almond-
shaped, opening and closing with lids like those of an ani-
mal. In fact, they more nearly resemble the eyes of an
otter than a bird. — Ex.

O . & O. VIA. N ov . 1883 . P .*>•

Breeding of the Barn Owl Near
Philadelphia.

BY HARRY G. PARKER, CHESTER, PENN.

Tlie Tinicum meadows lying just below Phila-
delphia, on the Delaware River, on account of
their marshy nature and the quantity of insects
anil small quadrupeds which abound, offer temp-
tation of no mean kind to the Barn Owl (Aluco
flammeus americanus), and I know of five in-
stances of their eggs having been found there
during the past eight years:

April 13, 1877, Mr. Isaac Reiff, the well-known
ooiogist of Philadelphia, took a fresh set of five
eggs.

April 13 and 15, 1881, the same gentleman took
two more sets of four eggs each.

April 18, 1882. This year the birds had been
much disturbed, and only laid two eggs, which
were left for incubation.

April 12, 1885, I found a set of five fresh" eggs.

These meadows are very low, and it is only by
means of irrigation that they are rendered fit pas-
ture land for the immense number of cattle which
arrive from the west, and which are here allowed
to recuperate and fatten before being slaughtered.
The nests in every case were found in the re-
cesses of some of the weather-beaten and blasted
oaks which are here and there to be found, but
which are growing fewer every year owing to
storms. We never failed to detect the presence
of the Barn Owls by means of the large pellets
which they exude, and which are found lying
about the trunks ot the trees where they have
their nests.

[The above instances of the Barn Owl breed-
ing near Philadelphia are of more than common
interest, owing to the fact that it is comparatively
a rare bird in that neighborhood.

This species of owl appears to be more common-
in California than elsewhere, and it seems to lay
more eggs in a set in that locality than it does
further east. Seven and eight eggs are no un-
common number there, but who ever heard of
that many being found in one nest in any other
part of the country ?— Ed.^.&O. XI. Mar. 1880. P. 3(p.

??

The American Barn Owl in Ohio.

The Barn Owl has been heretofore con-
sidered an extremely rare visitor in Ohio.
Many excellent ornithological collections
of Ohio birds, have been made within the
limits of the State, but few indeed are those
who are so fortunate as to include in their
series of Owls an Ohio specimen of Strix
flammea.

In Dr. Wheaton’s exceedingly valuable
report of the “Birds of Ohio,” incorpo-
rated in Volume IV of the Geological
Survey of Ohio, he says: “Bare visitor.”
“Not over half a dozen individuals record-
ed.” The year 1861 marks its first known
positive occurrence and capture, although it
was supposed before this that it was an oc-
casional straggling visitor in Ohio. Mr.
Chas. Dury records the capture of two
more, prior to 1878, both taken near Cin-
cinnati. This, Mr. Dury remarks, is the
only record, extending over a period of
more than seventeen years, that we have of
their occurrence in southern Ohio.

In the summer of 1879, a friend informed
me that he had a few days before shot a
strange Owl. From his description of the
bird I knew at once that it did not answer
to the size, coloration and markings of our
common Owls. I lost no time in going to
see it, and after fishing it out of the creek
where it had been thrown, I was delighted
to find it to be a fine specimen of this rare
Owl. Warm weather and flies had done
their work well, but notwithstanding its
j “ ripeness” it was after much patience and
care converted into a passable skin. In
1880, Mr. Markley took an adult male at
Foster’s Landing, on the Ohio Biver, thir-
ty-six miles above Cincinnati. From the
interior of the State but two are recorded.
One near Columbus, in 1878, and the other
at Circleville, in the summer of 1873. This,
I think, completes the li§t, and gives a to-
tal of seven individuals, taken in a period
of ’twenty-two years within the entire lim-
its of the state.

But whatever degree of rarity may have
marked its occurrence heretofore, the past
year has made full and ample reparation,
especially as far as southern Ohio is
concerned. Here is the list. On October
18, ’83, a fine specimen of Strix flammea
was brought to me by a farmer. This in-
dividual was taken in an apple orchard
near some grain sheds. The 15th of De-
cember another was killed. This one I did
not secure, as it was utilized for millinery
purposes by one of our rural belles. Two

more were added to the list on December
I 22d, a third one escaping. A deep snow cov-
ered the ground at this time. These were
taken near the Miami river. The day before
Chiistmas the fifth was killed in an open
gram shed. Another was added to my
collection January 12th, and the seventh
and last on January 22d, 1884. Here then
in a period of a little over three months,
I was so fortunate as to secure as many in-
dividuals of this species as had been taken
in the previous twenty-two years. The
, seven, too, were taken within a mile and a
half of here. Of the two taken on Decem-
ber 22d, one was but slightly wounded.
This I placed in a small room of the house.
I had here an excellent opportunity of ob-
serving it, and was much amused at its
comical attitudes. Each time the door
was opened for a peep at his owlship, he
would lower his head until it almost
reached the floor, move it slowly and con-
stantly from side to side, roll up his dark
brown deep sunk shining eyes in the most
solemn manner. This performance was
repeated each time the door was opened. I
handled him frequently before sacrificing
him to science, and at no time did he offer
resistance with his talons after the manner
of Baptatorial birds, (and I assure you his
talons were formidable enough,) but con-
fined his line of defense to his bill alone.

The Barn Owl is undoubtedly a very
useful bird to the farmer, having as it has
an almost unlimited penchant for rats and
mice. Two or three pairs of these birds
would in the course of a year destroy
many hundreds of these pests that infest
our barns and grain sheds. I quote the
following from Mr. Dury’s article on the
Barn Owl in the Cincinnati Natural Histo-
ry J ournal. “ On going up into the tower
of the ‘Town Hall’ of the village of Glen-
dale,” (where several of these owls were
secured the past year,) “I was astonished
at the sight presented. The floor and
ledges were covered with the cast up pel-
lets of the birds. There were hundreds
of these pellets, and must have contained
the debris of several thousand rats and
mice.” This is certainly evidence of the
economic value of these birds. Mr. Dury
also states that he found them living in
harmony with several pairs of tame pig
eons which had their quarters in the tower.

; — R ■ T. Shepherd , Monroe , Ohio.

O.&O. IX.Oct, 1884 .p,/.JJ'/ 3 -y :

ORNITHOLOGIST

— AND —

OOLOGIST.

$ 1.00 per

Annum.

Joseph M. Wade, Editor and Publisher.

Established, March, 1875.

Single Copy,
10 Cents.

VOL. VII.

NORWICH, CONN., MARCH, 1882.

NO. 13.

American Barn Owl.

Aluco flammeus americanus ( Aud ) Ridgy).

In the vicinity of Santa Paula, Califor-
nia, three hundred and twenty-five miles
down the coast from San Francisco, the
Barn Owl is by far the most abundant rep-
resentative of its family — there being per-
haps as many individuals of this species
as of all the others there represented, com-
bined. My experience with it is confined
to observations made during a residence of
two years in Ventura county, California,
and occasional visits into the edge of Los
Angelos and other adjoining counties.

This owl is resident in Southern Cali-
fornia, being somewhat gregarious in Fall
and Winter, during which seasons they
frequent, in day time, the dense foliage of
the Live Oaks which abound in the lesser
canons and fringe the lower slopes of the
foothills. On one occasion I drove more
than fifty of these owls from a clump of
oaks in Canada de Largo, and I have often
seen from eight to twelve dozing quietly in
one tree. The cross-beams under bridges
form a favorite resort for them. Between
Santa Paula and San Buenaventura, a dis-
tance of sixteen miles, there are bridges
over as many as six barancas , or “ gullies,”
as they are called here east of the Rockies.
These barancas vary from twenty to sixty
feet wide and from ten to twenty-five feet
deep, with perpendicular walls or banks on
either side. These barancas are a very
common thing in California, and are formed
in the rainy season by the great streams of
water that come rushing down the moun-
tain sides.

In passing over this road, I have often
taken the trouble to look under these
bridges, and I hardly ever failed to find
from two to six Barn Owls sitting on the
cross- timbers, or on projecting portions of
the walls. Great numbers of them are
found during the day amid the dense foli-
age of the Pepper-trees, — so extensively
used in Southern California for wind-
breaks ; and the groves of Willows along
the Santa Clara River and near its mouth
form very suitable quarters for them dur-
ing the day. I have found perhaps half a
dozen dozing in the hollows of trees, while,
during the dry season, more may be seen
occupying holes in the banks of the ba-
rancas, or in the almost vertical cliffs that
form the walls of some canons in the
mountains of this part of the State.

This species seemed to be almost exclu-
sively nocturnal in its habits, dozing the
day away in the resorts above named, at
which time it is not easily disturbed, but
will retain its position, eying you in a
sleepy, indolent way, until you approach
within a few feet of it when it flies awk-
wardly to another tree near by, or to a dif-
ferent hole in the baranca. I never noticed
them out searching for food before twilight,
and not often before eight to nine o’clock
at night. Their food consists, principally,
of the gopher ( Thomomys talpoides bulbi-
vorus) and the Californian “ Ground Squir-
rel,” ( Spermophilus grammurus beecheyi ),
both of which are so destructive to grow-
ing crops and fruit trees on the Pacific
coast. Other small mammals, particular-
ly rabbits, birds and insects go to make up
its bill of fare. By the farmers of Cali-

Auk, XIV, Oct. , 1897, pp-374'3*3.

NOTES ON THE AMERICAN BARN OWL IN
EASTERN PENNSYLVANIA . 1

BY J. HARRIS REED.

The breeding range of the Barn Owl ( Strix pratincola ) , with
few exceptions, does not extend north of Pennsylvania or New
Jersey. It is locally distributed throughout its range, being
restricted to such localities as afford an ample food supply for
its wants. The extensive meadow lands along the Delaware
River, south of Philadelphia, are its most favorite retreat, in this
vicinity. Most of the trees which were scattered over these
meadows and stood as old land-marks for roosting and nesting
places of this bird for many years have been destroyed by storm
or axe, and the Owls have been compelled to a great extent to
seek quarters over the adjoining country; a few, however, still
remain.

‘Read before the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, Philadelphia, April
15,1897.

the place a visit, but, arriving a little late in the evening, I saw
only four Owls, Mr. Voelker on the following evening seeing five
birds, one of which he shot. The Owls leave the roost very
early in the evening, often a long time before sunset, departing
singly, several minutes elapsing after the exit of one before the
appearance of another, each circling around the tree several times
before leaving, emitting a note similar to the clucking of a
squirrel, probably a call note to their companions. This habit
of leaving the roost before sunset, is more noticeable during the
breeding season when the days are long and the nestlings require
food, and this no doubt accounts for their being seen occasionally
during cloudy days searching for food.

I think the female remains on the eggs and is often fed by the
male during the season of incubation, as a certain amount of
food is generally found in the nest at this time. I have never
found the male covering the eggs, although if the cavity is suffi-

n ®° met Wngr about Owls,
w. u. Orznsbae, Montpelier, Vt

Of the Barn Owl, which is found more or
less abundantly over the entire country,
thirty-nine stomachs were received. Seven '
of them were empty, four contained insects,
one a Pigeon, three other small birds, and
the balance contained small Rodents, such as;

Mice, Rats, Gophers, etc.

0.& Q. Vol. 18, Oct, 1893 p.138

. ). H4r j_ A . /a y

/ Owls Washing. — I have a pet Bam Owl flying at large in the yard, and
on several occasions I have seen him wash in a tub of water. I have also a
Bong-eared Owl, but never knew him to wash, although he sits outside in
rain and wind both night and day, and seldom seeks shelter or even a dark
corner ; it is quite the contrary with the Barn Owl, as he does not seem to
like the light, and seeks the cellar in the day-time. It would be of interest
to me to know if others have observed Owls washing, and if so, of what
species ? Thomas Darragh (Belfast Museum).

[That Owls have no antipathy to water is evidenced by the fact that they
have been observed to catch fish, and in their love of bathing, when oppor-
tunity serves, they probably do not differ from other birds of prey.— E d.]

/OS

Cl

C . .-e^V fib, h <. st-rC

(4 *"

In Scotland where j
the species is common it is still regarded with j
aversion, and its visits are looked upon as a '!
forerunner of disaster to the family. Its cry 1
it night is described as most appalling, and is
often referred to in this way in the songs and
poetry of the country. Thus one of Burns’
loth rrios when seeking admission to the cham-
ber of his lady love, in describing his uncom-
fortable position outside, mentions among
other causes, that “the cry o’ hoolets maks me
eerie.” I have listened attentively to the
cry of this and other owls, but hav 3
never recognized anything so terrifying
about them. Not very long ago I
heard the serenade of the great horned owl
down near Stony Creek under the mountain.
It was loud and harsh, and struck me at the
time a3 resembling more than anything else
the neighing of a young colt. Such snunds
when heard unexpectedly in a lonely place at
night are not calculated to inspire courage in a
breast already depressed with superstitions
fear, yet the effect produced must to a great
extentdependuponthe train of thought passing
through the mind at the time, and though
many a stalwart Scot has quailed at the cry
of the “Hoolet,” yet it is a matter of history-
that the sons of that romantic land when roused
to enthusiasm by similar sounds extorted from
the national instrument have performed deeds
of personal valor which will live in song and
story as long as poets and historians seek such -
themes. I 1

tXUJU

wlL n* fi **^*^-

— first-

0 %Ury.

By“ F. A. Sampson. Ibid.,

Soienoe, VqAj XXI

By W. P. Tarrant. Ibid., p. ;

794. Barn-owls in Missouri.

Unusual numbers about Sedalia.

763. “ Monkey-Faced Owls." By W. P. Tarrant. Ibid., p. 87, with

cut. — Obviously the Barn Owl. Qi & Q« YoliVIH

1483. \_Barn Owl and Razor-billed Auk in Rhode J. jc

South wick.] Ibid., No. ii, Nov., 1886, P . 9 i. SaiHoferfftt.

786. Barn Owls in Missouri. By F. A. Sampson. Ibid., p. 3 ° 9 -

Amer. N*^aUst»2EVIiI

372. American Barn Owl. Alucoflammeus americanus ( And .) Ridgzv.
By B. W. Evermann. Ornithologist and Oblogist, VII, pp. 97-98, 109
1 if’ l66 ’ , 7 ' Detailed account of its breeding habits, based on the writ-
er s experience, with m any mea surements of eggs.

79 2 - Barn-owls in southern Ohio. By A, W. Butler. Science, Vol III,
p. 31.— Fourteen specimens were taken, in the fall of 1883, near Cincin-
nati, wheie it had previously been of rare or accidental occurrence.

955 - Bird Notes. Ibid., Dec. 11, p. 385. Brief notes from three con-

tributors, the m°|t important item being the record of a Barn Owl captured

nt T.ocrnn O . w r/ 'j-' , jo Stream, SJUU

a, Ridgway . — Earn Owl. By John W.
taken at Hartwell, O., about io miles ■

JotSr. otnoia- Bog. N. H, 1 832 i

246. Alucoflammeus americanus , Ridgway. — Barn Owl. By John W.
Shorten. Ibid., p. 57. — Specimen
I from Cincinnati. March 3, 1882.

j Young Oologiat. I 544 - The Barn Owl in Southern California. By
Ibid., p. 125.

Mb w

ffjzo lirl / **

CcjtA+f^ u »<^- . _. C i«jt ^1

A

/* ■•<** ^ V

Jt« *^_ <«^ y 1^ 1^3 y' /^A // A -v X ^ (/ / AA ^ J / l t/VI A- A

»** »K«— J^lAy Xt/XX>»_ ttyMAAT*^ / /a/' Vn/a ^ ^/lAy«A» ^AAA VV V

S*-+*-jL MAX*. S~X. j mTA.A»a

jtaX 6 i/V* T'Uv A A/m/alC r *''*i //a/ ^ A

4. - g ■ ■ l * t -I ' * < ' '

•o. Av/ I . A tHw-ivv A /X '^A.

^/w Ama (Tx ‘AAtvA A)ch*s - r * a» A. / 9*jrtx ,

tA/l\». S/ks+L. fix * ,, tiTlAA.

*//#Vy

l^ZjO ■~*-

/fv*» *f~ hrxU-4
&TUc^

7

fj t* k) ^aX*a/

jyjA j bZlnd 77l*i . 77cn*to-A-d~ )/<G\ A /? « W f A ^y-A.. i

/Mi- jfcr Y/*7 ^ /£j# «aa.

W , * ^.- - - - 1 £ - ^ '

^ fZfly^ CMC, Zuir

r

jx+ZZL. Ji j^sxZf , A>xx (TUa ^7i

IaJlZZ /*MA.i(y ^VO ^

f)b (L (rx-^Zg U/^a //aw /;/ A4 /v,

/*4Y 'jMyoxo-^/y

Maa

fji/l . Mirtu ^tv» Aa(T c/jfrZ

tfZ-JL (>X a </ ; _ f^Zit y // r // (l<+> / /fkjc^^eC /< , /n i ^A, yY'AA,

^*> /Vaa »a Vt ^/(T ♦ >* i?' ~- -

u z & A/!r>/txXP^

f*y^ <^/y .

<Cc^^3^xxf ca^\JA^ /^v ^

^ > z/t-C«4Ux/^'«4y'

OxZl tZCxXZ! Mx /fe- fr*yr

> Q -t-4-y £*sic*- ^ $jL<0^*4 ‘

//l«-v^fi ft 4*1 /x i“ * '* ^*14 y ^ /-i nM< //I* i' X>A y<- *A

i^A. tViy^ ^

— u ttZ- •

//*»//>/ .

/SW/ aaaaV fcX
X <>i*X^ /y-

Caa-

r» Z“

Wi / ' 5l *‘->'
y

V f LQ*~C&.

/oe>

Copied from Journa

Maaeackus

1803 .

V/it/sf k c/ yyy ^ a

y y^y>A^y/yy^^ yhz&yz^y, yzy<r y^y

+zy y sy^zzy^ytry^ yyy^t -/yZ^ye^styy /yJZz^yf’

^ y y ^ 'Z/l/P /'/' j S'/ IS -* 'T^'l sss S''< ISS' /^'Z^A's'^^y S'/?' Z/Z

^yy^-/'' /y^ry^y y^yy^y yyy /yzf (^,/ spyzyy^y^ sy/'j^y# y^sz^zz-
/y yy/yjy ^yyyl£rf ^yS^yS .

yyz^A

sS/zy/y

c & /s/tYssf' J%€6 ,y4?'ys A’

^Tzyytyf 7?z?zz& /0 y^ /y^/vs^f'S? zt&/~
m/^. /y£*s pyyysy' A'zzyy yzz?z2J<6y yz^/y

yyy'a'yy^yy^yyy^^y^ y%*£ ytzi#5 y$?fa

yyy'/yyyC y&y&y c? z^^yyy^y’zzy/'^/^yf y^ss^y^zs/ y^yy^zszy

,/iyyyryy y yzyzyyy ^

Asi o wilsonianus .

Ball's Hill, Concord, Mass.

1897. a rare piece of good fortune fell to my lot as I was on

Nov. 17. my way back to the cabin this evening. It was aoout five o'-

clock and twilight was fast deepening although the afterglow
in the west cast a strong light over the larger open spaces.

It was perfectly still the wind having long since died away.

I was following the wood-road that leads around the south end
of Davis's Hill and had nearly reached the brook when an Owl
glided close past me flying just above the tops of the young
oaks and quickly disappearing in the gloom against a back-
ground of pines. I gave a few low squeaks when it quickly
reappeared and passed and repassed low over ray head a dozen
times or more finally pitching sharply upward and alighting
on a dead upright prong of one of the large pines that stand
on the edge of the brook. Up to this time I had taken it for
a Short-ear but putting my glass on it I saw at once that it
was a Long -eared Owl . I looked at it for several minutes and
then squeaked again. It left its perch at once and came di-
rectly towards me but before it reached me another and much
larger bird of the same species suddenly appeared directly
over my head and literally within reach of ray hand . There,
to my amazement, it poised for several seconds on loosely
beating wings not two feet from and directly above my upturned
face. Every time I squeaked it would drop its legs to their

o

Asio wilsonianus .
Ball's Hill, Concord, Mass.

.337.

Nov. 17.

!

(

full length with talons wide spread apparently with the ex-
pectation of picking a mouse off the crown of ray hat. Indeed
its behavior became so threatening that I was positively a-
fraid to continue the imitation. Shortly after I stopped it
the bird alighted on the topmost slender twig of a scrub oak
within four or five yards of me while the male re turne d to
his former perch in the pine. I had them both alternately
under my glass for several minutes longer and in a sufficient-
ly good light to be able to see all their characteristic
markings distinctly. One bird sat rather erect, the other
took a crouching posture with the plumage so puffed out that
the bird looked nearly as big as a Hen. Both showed their
ear tufts but they were not held erect as represented by
stuffed specimens and drawings; on the contrary they drooped
backward nearly or quite touching the shorter feathers of the
crown .

never

I have seen any Owls so alert and animated as were

A

these. They kept their heads in almost constant motion turn-
ing them quickly in every direction looking not only down to-

wards the ground but on every side and occasionally even up-
ward as if they hoped to discover something of interest among
the surrounding branches.

But most striking and characteristic of all was
their flight. Absolutely noiseless and exquisitely easy and

/oj

3 .

Aslo w i 1 son i anus .

Ball's Hill, Concord, Mass .

1897. graceful it was not loss light and buoyant than that of the
Short-eared Owl yet very rauch smoother and less erratic.

Their wings also appeared broader and rounder than t&ose of
A.ac cinitrinus . They reminded me strikingly of huge moths as
they skimmed about just over the tree tops often turning back
and going over the same ground again. They moved a great
deal in circles of from twenty to thirty or forty yards in

Nov. 17.

diameter .

Whether oiroling or following straighter courses ^
they both invariably progressed by alternate flapping and
sailing, first giving eight or ten slow but strong wing beats
and then gliding ten to twenty yards on set wings. I do not
know any other species of Owl which habitually does this or
which circles over the ground while hunting.

Altogether I had these interesting and beautiful
creatures within a few yards of me for at least ten minutes.
At the end of this time they flew off into the tall pines on
Bensen's ridge, one following the other rather closely. A
moment or two later the male came back and circled about the
little meadow and pond by the causeway following the line of

trees closely.

There can be no quest ion that these Owihs were of
different sexes for one was fully a third larger than the other.
They behaved, too, like mated birds but of course they may

no

4 .

Asio wilsonianus .

I

Ball's Hill, Concord, Mass.

!

1897. have been young of the same brood or their association on this

I

Nov. 17. occasion may have been purely fortuitous.

(YU. H),

This is the first opportunity I have ever had of
watching the Long -eared Owl while actually engaged in hunting,
all the birds that I have hitherto observed having been either
met with in the day-time or seen at evening flying across
openings on the way from one piece of woods to another. I
confess that I had not suspected that they sought their prey
to so large a degree in the open and by flying about in search
of it but had pictured the bird sitting erect and still in
the depths of the woods watching the ground beneath.

i

I! tf 11 II 11 * • • * • II If II IJ II _

>0

Birds within Ten Miles of Point
de Monts , Can, Oomeau & Merriam

59. Asio wilsonianus. Long-eared Owl. — Rare. Mr. Comeau
shot three in lylav, 1877 or 1878.

Bull, N. 0. 0, 7 *Got, 1882, p, 237

lr~j ,

'fZscAfl} <£ev+*-cf~ f2^\^cLo t

cv ~., no lt

138. Asio wilsonianus. American
fall migrant, October 2 to November 7;
(May 24, 1894).

Long-eared Owl. — Common
rare summer resident; breeds

1/2

Q'jte/?Jrvr7t6j fte'+sTifar-rr^’-'' >

A si n wilsonianus in Shelburne, New Hampshire.— A female American
Long-eared Owl was shot on the banks of the Androscoggin River in
Shelburne, New Hampshire, early in the morning of October 12, 1908, by
Mr. C. D. Bullerwell of Cambridge, Massachusetts. I was visiting in Shel-
burne at the time and Mr. Bullerwell kindly presented the specimen to me.
I have deposited it in the Museum of Mr. William Brewster.

The town of Shelburne is in the White Mountain region about twelve
miles northeast of Mount Washington, in the northern part of the State.
Mr. G. M. Allen, in his ‘List of the Birds of New Hampshire,’ published in
the ‘ Proceedings of the Manchester Institute of Arts and Sciences,’ volume
IV, 1903, page 104, says, in regard to Asio wilsonianus-. “All the records
which I have for this species are from localities in the southern and central
part of the State. I have never seen it in the White Mountains.”
Wai/tek Deane, Cambridge, Mass.

Auk 2#, Jan. -1909 ,p« ~7

Eared Owls. They came early in June and stayed until about Sep-
tember. They were here literally by hundreds. I counted nine in
a few miles' ride. They were flying at all hours but mostly from
four o’clock until dark. They would fly back and forth over large
fields very much as hawks do. It was easy to shoot them simply
by sitting down where they had last passed, for they would usual-
ly go back over the same place.

Manley Hardy, getter of Sept. 14,1883.

Some Ornithological Explorations in
the Dead River Region of Maine.

BY F. H. CARPENTER.

///

( Concluded from Page 163.)

77. Asio americanus , (American Long-eared
Owl). This Owl was quite common in Septem- 1
her, and several were shot by the visiting fisher-
men at Seven Ponds. These were found roosting
in the hemlocks around the lakes, and apparently,
were oblivious of any intrusion until the report of
the gun sounded their death knell. When trout-
fishing after sunset I have often seen Owls, pre-
sumably of this species, fly over the surface of
the lakes at no great height from the water. As
my visits to this region were not made during the
breeding season of the Baplores of this country, I
regret I can not give any account of the nesting
of this species.

<!H

O.&O. XI. Dec. 1386. p. 177

q (cuuto yjc^ $tC4t*A^3c£*&

ti£~ IHs 1 /. 'U,

d^oC-- *ls<-<

one T ,ong-eare.tl .

.7t(r*vUv*kb , .

q>+-Cp. y^-UcA^. -h.H ( >.

< _y\' /rAAd/, 73 z^idu^CrtAV-Tst/ j *$C/&44/.

one Lsngo^asi&tfi. CUiAL. /f^Yi:

/fy (D^>.

O.ssO. X, Oct. 1835, p. /6o

Birds ,.f Bristol County, Mass.

F.W. Andros.

Asio wilsonianus (Less.), American Long-
eared Owl. Resident, rare. Breeds.

O &O. XII. Sept. 1887 p.I39

General Notes.

S S'ry B £,V f gf°7fl 5"*.l,i,.3 ateh Hof,

ii. Asio wilsonianus. American Long-eared Owl. — A specimen ’in
the Pittsfield Athenseum, labelled “ Pontoosuc Lake, April 30, 1879.”

Auk XII. Jan. 1895 p. 88

mann

// 5

c

G»*«ral Notes

'/$ C^y^L-cpfj^-

I ~Asio wilsonianus. — In many years’ collecting in this vicinity I have
never known the Long-eared Owl so numerous as during the autumn of 1
1892. They were apparently migrating from the first week in O ctober /,
until early in X / / / l/~ 7 . ff'J 0 J

/#?J- 'TUT <ZjUvL&, April , 1893. p. 207.

//6

Distribution of New England Birds, -
A Reply to Dr, Brewer. H- A. Purdie.

r ^/U jCcrv, y ■ U ( (3 An Cj

D^. /s. -/A <?*-« ^

^ 'IrlKs^r*^ v/tV flX JU*lo f 4< c£ul^^a.*X ^ «• — ' *

BuU. N.O.O. 2, Jan, , 1877 * p* /V-

///

Birds of the Adirondack i-iegion.

C. H.Momtuu.

113. Asio americanus (Steflk.') Shar-pe. Long-eared Owl. — Breeds,
but not common.

Bull N.Q.O, e.Oct, 1881, P« 232

^ , JT:

Asio wilsonianus, American Long-eared Owl. The occunence of
this Owl is not common and it is a rare breeder. Several nests have
been found — the last one on May 16, 1897. It contained four eggs
almost hatched.

C. ( UAj2-o>.CJL_

Auk, XVI, July, 1899 , p.^ 86 - ’.

Long-eared Owls resident at Flushing, Long Island, N. Y. — Some
time ago I wrote (Auk, XIX, 1902 , p. 398 ) regarding the Barn Owls which
formerly occupied a church steeple on Bowne Avenue in Flushing, Borough
of Queens. It may be of interest to you to know that within a few hun-
dred yards of my studio here on Bowne Avenue, there are now roosting
six Long-eared Owls ( Asio wilsonianus). This family of owls has been in
and about this neighborhood for several years. They breed here, and
this last season they wintered here. Probably they have done so all along.

I have examined a number of their pellets and found in them nothing
but the remains of mice with now and then the bones of an English sparrow.
If this is the regular diet of these birds, which from different authorities
consulted I infer to be a fact, it might be well to plant a colony of Long-
eared Owls in every city and village in the United States.

The birds roost in the thick foliage of an evergreen tree, but when
watched too closely do not hesitate to leave the tree and fly about in broad
daylight, and the manner in which they dodge obstructions when approach-
ing their former perch, makes it evident that their eyesight is very good

even in daylight. — Dan Beard, F\
Auk, XXlll, JU

( £e-i y

o

$7£Zd tv-cX/i ,

/m

-/_

c^yCU

IA±*±-

//

0-£tL

r^

$~t<yCr <x^c-£s£

^ £ Ast-^y^/isir ^t-tAo

/-^W ~tZ+^si. ‘^^e-XZZZc .

*. «_-^^. CaJ~£a ^ f <^<-~<^^

/y A. dcdlnr-^ -^^La ^ <<>-cX-^

*~+yhu^~- *~ X ' < ^#X-W tSy'O-

&

^~V>-^4-s4. J t y \J~~\sCs( ^ laj 1 ^ ^ 6 ^/

fi-AA. A~ }^^a^o^ca CaACAxAx. i^J~A-^ r -A^

* jf c '< ^ ' 0 '

*~k ix, , 4i-'^ f > Xn,

y^CAA. ( i _^L/ t ^/ T <Cx/

f dut^y &y

^A^CZa. cttA-^sk V~i~\sy \jL^s^e <lZZ~

IT t^ - C^. ^ .^.y •'LS' Zsfr-KA^cA.

■ / fty**4tA^<_ cm a) \/lfi v /<w^ ^A-vx)

^ tZ/ilVM.

mony offered by our observers. Previous to
that time, Mr. F. II. Carpenter, of Kehoboth,
found two nests of the bird in Swansea, (0. &
0., Vol. 8, No. 8). The first nest was found
April 18, 1880, in an old Crow’s nest, which a
pair of Squirrels had piled with fine grass and
leaves. It contained four eggs, measuring an
average of 1.35x1.22 inches. Another nest
was found near the locality of the first one.

It contained three eggs, which were not taken.
Incubation was found to occupy twenty-six
days from the date of finding the nest and one
of the young was taken and kept in . confine-
ment by Mr. Carpenter, in whose possession I
have frequently seen it.

The latter nest was an old habitation of the
| Coopers’ Hawk, The eggs were, pure white in
! color and, as will be seen by the measurements,
are nearly globular in shape.

O.&O. XII. Aug. 1887 P 117

IZO

pair of Squirrels nnu jiuv. „

leaves. It contained four eggs, measuring an
average of 1.35x1.22 inches. Another nest
was found near the locality of the first one.
It contained three eggs, which were not taken.
Incubation was found to occupy twenty-six
days from the date of finding the nest and one
of the young was taken and kept in confine-
ment by Mr. Carpenter, in whose possession I
have frequently seen it.

The latter nest was an old habitation of the
j Coopers’ Hawk, The eggs were. pure white in
|! color and, as will be seen by the measurements,
are nearly globular in shape.

O.&o. XII. Aug. 1887 P 117

/ 2 6

Notes on the Breeding of Long-eared Owl.

May 18, 1393 N. A. Francis and I found a long-eared owl's nest in
a cedar swamp on the boundary line between Brookline and West
Roxbury. The nest contained four eggs almost hatched, two being
actually chipped. The nest was built in a cedar about 25 feet up.

The set is now, or was, in the collection of N . A. Francis.

&& ^ • ~

May 3, 1896, nest in se swamp . found by F. H. K. placed about

\ /

20 feet up r in a white pine f contained four eggs hatching, and one
young bird.

May 28, 1897, nest in same swamp found by F. H. K. placed
between 25 and 30 feet up in a white cedar, contained three fresh
eggs.

April 1, 1897 the above nest contained five fresh eggs, which

are now in the collection of F. H. K.

The above notes are, I imagine, all that I have that will be

of use to you' but it is of interest to note that on April 24,

just 23 days after I took the above set I again visited the swamp

and found that these owls had. laid four eggs in the last year's

nest and that these eggs looked to be pretty well set. On May 8,

1897 ( but 37 days after I took the above set I again visited the

nest and found three birds hatched and the remaining egg chipped.

I have no definite idea just how long it takes aX owl's egg

> \

to hatch, but always supposed it took about 23 days. I am not
quite sure at this writing, not having looked the matter up in my

notes, but my impression is that the eggs are laid every other
day. If this is so, it would seem as though those owls got to
work pretty soon after I took their first set. Possibly, however,
it only takes them three weeks to hatch.

By the way, did I ever tell you that I timed Red Shouldered
hawks and found that it took them five weeks to incubate?

Nesting of the American Long-eared
Owl.

BY THOMAS H. .JACKSON, WEST CHESTEH, PA.

The Long-eared Owl, (Agio americanus), is one
of our commonest winter Raptores m this part of
Pennsylvania. During some winters they are ex-
ceedingly abundant in and near our town, asso-
ciating with the Short-eared Owl, (Am accipi-
trinus), and hiding by day among the thick ever-
green and fir trees that are numerous in the lawns
and nui'series in the vicinity of the town.

But as summer residents they may be considered
extremely rare, only two or three instances of
their nesting in tire county (Chester) have come to
my notice. The only data, however, to which I
have access is that of a set of five taken by myself
on the 15th of April, 1870.

These eggs are as brilliant and glossy now as
on the day they were taken, over sixteen years
since. The location of this nest was near the
centre of a large tract of woodland. It was placed
in the crotch of a medium-sized chestnut tree,
about thirty feet from the ground. The tree
sloped over a ravine, and was not at all difficult
to climb.

The nest was evidently an old structure, prob-
ably one that had been used by a pair of Crows
the previous season. The interior seemed to have
been torn out, and replaced by coarser materials
than are usual to the Crow, making a platform-
shaped nest of sticks, pieces of bark, etc., with a
few feathers.

Upon this the eggs, five in number were placed,
and from the length of time the bird had been
sitting — probably ten days or two weeks, they
were much soiled and stained. This, however,
was easily removed by an application of soap and
wuiter, which left them a very handsome set.
These eggs have the usual shape that distinguishes
the Long eared Owls, an elongated form with
both ends so nearly of a size in some of them as
to triage it impossible to tell the large from the
small end. The measurements of this set are
1.58x1.28,1.58x1.29,1.59x1.28,1.65x1.26,1.65x1.29.

The female did not leave her nest until I had
almost reached her, and then she flew, or rather
dropped to the ground, and went through a series
of evolutions that would lead a novice to imagine
she was badly wounded, or in her death agonies.

I do not remember that she uttered a single
vocal sound, although she manifested great dis-
pleasure by loud snapping of her beak as she flew
around me at close quarters.

A long search through all the adjacent woods
later in the season failed to discover a second nest
of these birds, and, indeed, never since have I
found the Long-eared Owls breeding, or heard of
any other sets of their eggs being taken in this
county.

The murderous law passed by our State legisla-
ture some two years since, and which has been in
full operation the past season, is doing its full
share toward the extermination of this innocent
bird, along with its more objectionable relative,
the Great Horned Owl, which is really the only
species of our Raptores of doubtful use to mankind.

Q.&O. XI,Dec.lb80.p. /if - I &?■

(z^

New Eng. Rap tores. Number Eggs in
a set. P. H. Carpenter.

Long-eared Owl, (Asio wilsonianus) .

1 set of 3

4 u “4

1 “ “5

O.&O. XII. Oct. 1887 p.168

yj xv im in yj l, vj

Collection of Rap tores E

Am. Long-eared Owl, 1-4, 1-4, 3-6, 1-7

O.&O. XV. Apr. 1890. p. 53

o, r.

(* * :w

one (?gg. The young varied much in size anfi must have
been notched at different times. The eggs or the first set I
found snowed the same variation in the siarof the embryos.
I don’t thick these birds ever prey upo^mnything but small
animals, aim. I have never found them in the vicinity of
timber. I h*Nm tried trapping then* by placing a steel trap
on the top of\a pole, but nev§r succeeded in catching a

bird.”

Tlie following'
Callum, Dunvil
addition to the

repbived from G. A. Mc-
nt., is also a valuable
history of this bird :

A flock of Short-sdrefl o\Hs, that is if six may be called a
flock, have taken /ip their residence in the outskirts of our
town this wintei/(1882-3), andNs many as four have been
seen together lotting about the fields as if in play, dipping
down to thy ground, then soaringsup again, chasing one
another, ei/. Is this conduct not odd 7\ I have secured two
of them And hope to bag the rest, although they are very
wary. jL friend of mine while shooting na the marsh last
fall haajust shot a snipe when one of this gmius darted at
the falling bird and bad secured it, when thetother barrel
i he now sits in my collection.

Long-eared Owl.

\- Average
cimens of
harpe), all
L.59X1.30

1 measure
38, 1.63 X

2 and 1.57
ol. VI.—

On the 12th of April, 1880, I flushed
out of a cedar tree, in the middle of chest-
nut woods, a pair of Long-eared Owls,
these being tlie first I had ever seen in
this section. I commenced a most vigor-
ous search for the nest, but failed to find
it; the Owls in the meantime manifested
their disapproval of intruders by giving
vent to their low, plaintive wails, varied by
an occasional grating sound, and some-
times biting at the limb on which they
would alight, which induced me to believe
they contemplated building near by. I re-
turned on April 18th and started the fe-
male from an old Crow’s nest which a pair
of Squirrels had piled with fine grass and
leaves, and which contained four eggs in
the most comfortable nest I ever saw.
They had burrowed down to the hollow
and left simply a space large enough for
their heads to stick up through to the outer
world. The average of the eggs in meas-
urement was 1.35 X 1.22. The next season
(1881) I could find no nest in that wood,
but on the other side of an immense

o

5

^ r i§

a:

CL'

Oh

^ -

_AND —

OOLOGIST.

$1.00 per

Annum.

Joseph M. Wade, Editor and Publisher.

Established, March, 1875.

Single Copy,
10 Cents.

VOL. VII.

NORWICH, CONN., OCTOBER, 1882.

No. 21.

American Long-eared Owl.

OUR FIRST owl’s NEST.

For several seasons we worked indus-
triously, sparing neither shoe leather nor
horse flesh, in the hope of finding an owl’s
nest, and that the first one would prove
that of a Great-horned Owl. But each sea-
son passed away without success, and we
the more determined not to buy, hut to
persevere until success crowned our efforts,
when in the early Spring of 1879 we re-
ceived a box from Portland, Conn., con-
taining two beautiful eggs of the Great-
liorned Owl, a present from W. W. Coe,
who has taken the eggs so many years in
succession from this pair that he now
jokingly alludes to them as the “ Coe
strain.” The eggs in question were so far
advanced in incubation that one of the
young ones poked his bill through the
shell as they lay on the table, and yet
through Mr. Coe’s patience and persever-
ance a set of eggs were produced fine
enough to place in any cabinet. Although
this set of eggs were thankfully received,
it did not cure the desire to find an owl’s
nest, and when the season of 1880 opened
we still persevered until April 4, when
passing through a hemlock grove in a de-
serted heronry, in the town of Ellington,
Ct., we discovered droppings and castings.
On looking up the tree a Long-eared Owl
{Asio Americans) left it for a short flight.
Without stopping to think, we mounted the
tree on a fruitless search. As soon as we
got down the owl returned to the next
tree, when our German companion got ex-
cited and wanted to borrow a gun ; in fact,

anything to get the owl. We told him to
keep cool and we would go up the tree and
get it for him.

We started stealthily up the hemlock.
The owl kept his eye on our friend
until we got within two feet of it, when its
head came around, and he looked us in the
face. We moved not a muscle, but looked
him straight in the eye, when hearing our
friend step on a rotten stick, its head
turned once more, and taking advantage of
this we gently moved one branch higher,
and with a quick movement of the right
hand we took him from the limb. To say
that both of us were surprised would hard-
ly express it. The German sent up a shout
of exultation in broken English. We
carefully descended with our captive, and
our German friend prepared to tie up the
owl in his handkerchief. We examined
it carefully, and while handing it to
him we purposely let it go. The owl
went off as noislessly as a butterfly and
looked at us from another tree with a per-
fect indifference. We left the place pleased
with our experience but our friend had lost
his owl and was not happy.

April 11th. We again went to the her-
onry and saw both owls several times.
Climbed to several nests but found no eggs.
April 18. Our friend went over alone
and found both owls on one nest. They
left it when he went near the tree. April
25. We again went to the heronry with
our friend, who pointed out the tree in
which he had previously found the nest
containing the owls. As we struck the
tree one of the owls left the nest, and
when we had climbed two-thirds of the

meadow, about a mile distant; I found a
nest April 21st in an old Cooper’s Hawk
nest. On climbing I found three eggs,
which were left to be hatched, for I wished
to find the time occupied in incubation.

ilogist. 1628. American Long-eared Owl. By A. C. Murchison. Ibid.,
190-191. — Nesting habits. Auk , Vll. Jan. 1 890 . p. frfc.

390. American Long-eared Owl. By Chas. E. Bendire. Ibid., p.

I 126. — Average and extremes of measurement of 37 eggs of Asio ameri-
I canus (Sharpe). Q, &S Q» VQ< 1 » V 44

pp.

ill

New Eng. Rapbores. Number Eggs in
a set. F. H. Carpenter.

On visiting the nest May 17th, twenty-six
days later, I found three little Owls just
hatched. I went again June 2d and took
one young, which I have in confinement to
this time. It is extremely interesting to
watch its movements, which are more diffi-
cult on account of its being more affected
by light than my others, (I have Screech
and Barred in confinement,) but his confi-
dence and familiarity won my affections at
once. He will eat any kind of meat, but
give him a nest of mice and he is in the
third heaven of delight. No sooner does
he see the basket of chaff, which he knows
contains his favorite dish, than he goes
through a very strange habit,. namely, that
of running each of his claws through his
bill, (ostensibly for the purpose of keeping
them sharp, I suppose.) On depositing
the heap in the corner of his room, which
is quite dark, he flies to it and begins his
search, scratching after the manner of hens.
While doing this he keeps a contented,
preening noise, but the instant a mouse is
found it changes to a quick, sharp, express-
ive note, and, grasping it so tightly one
may hear its bones crack, he flies to his
perch, stretches himself to his full height,
erects his ears, gives two or three notes of
triumph, all the while looking me in the
face ; then carries the mouse to his box
and returns for more. Such are a few of
his habits, and, although foolish and sen-
timental the stern scientist and collector
may deem me, yet I say never shall I be
guilty of taking another set of Asio Amer-
icanus eggs to enrich my cabinet, for if
they develop into such beings as my little
friend, it is better to let them remain to
fulfil their proper sphere ; for, Mr. Editor,
it is a ponderous question, How may we

b “‘ &****•
ayeheard that measures
be taken by^tflm^mithojoglsts
tion to make a chpSrlisL In
ment the SnjitBsonian should
ted, othefwise such a check list
a foothold.

Long-eared Owl, ( Asio

wilsonianns) .

1 set

of 3

4 “

“ 4

1 “

“ 5

O.&O. XII. Oct. 1887 p. 1Q8

'Collection of Raptures Eggs, J. P. N.

Am. Long-eared Owl, 1-4, 1-4, 3-6, 1-7, <; ::4

O.&O. XV. Apr. 1890. p. 53

American Long— eared Owl. — Average
measurement of thirty-seven specimens of
the eggs of Asio americcmus (Sharpe), all
I can get at present average 1.59x1.30
inches. The three largest eggs measure
respectively 1.68x1.31, 1.60x1.38, 1.63 X
1.34, the two smallest 1.52x1.32 and 1.57
Xl-25 inches — see page 81, Vol. VI. — ■
Chas. E. Bendire, U. S. A.

O.&O. Vll.May.15, 1882. p. )£(,.

O

i e»

The Oologfist. 1628.

1 9O-I9I.

way up the other one left, and by their
violent movements we were satisfied it
contained eggs, which proved to be
the case, for on reaching the nest, which
was near the top of a young hemlock thirty
feet from the ground, close to the main
trunk, on the east side, we found five pure
white eggs, which we placed in a soft felt
hat, and the hat carefully between our
teeth, but we fear we was just a little
cruel in prolonging the suspense of the
poor birds, for it was interesting to watch
their rapid movements, as with ears de-
pressed and head feathers raised, and
squealing pitifully like young cats in dis-
tress, they flew as close to our head as it
was prudent for them to do, snapping
their bills the while. The nest was ev-
idently built on that of a Night Her-
on’s, and was quite shallow but firmly
built of grass. There were considerable
feathers, but whether they were placed
there as a lining to the nest, or came from
the quary consumed, we could not tell.
Since the eggs were taken we have not been
able to find the old birds. They evidently
at once left that part of the woods. The
following is the measurements of the five
eggs taken from this nest: 1.59X1.32, 1.59
Xl.32, 1.62x1.37, 1.65x1.35, 1.58x1.31.
Within a stone’s throw of this nest we
took two others, a Cooper’s Hawk and a
Crow, both with full fresh sets. This her-
onry was fully occupied in 1878, but sev- O
eral sportsmen ? went and shot the birds
for “fun” while breeding, one bringing to
town and placing in a row for the curious
to examine sixteen birds at one time. The
action of these so-called sportsmen we
severely condemned at the time in our lo-
cal paper, and we do not think the act has
been repeated. The Herons, however, left
for safer quarters, and not many beside the
writer know of their whereabouts.

April 10, 1881. We visited the same
locality in hopes that the Long-eared
Owls had returned, but instead we found
a pair of Barred Owls.

O.&O. Vll. 1B8 J.D. !(,/-/ (,Z.

American Long-eared Owl. By A. C. Murchison
-Nesting habits. A.uk , Vll. Jan. ] 890 . p. Sffc.

C t'vo

s— i

T

Ibid . ,

pp.

390. American Long-eared Owl. By Chas. E. Bendire. Ibid., p.
126. — Average and extremes of measurement of 37 eggs of Asio ameri-
canus (Sharpe). Q t & O. VS-L VI 2

> 2 ?

M+# d,

Something about Owb.

O.O. Ormebee, Montpelier, Vt,

Of the Long-eared Owl, found from Mex-
ico to Hudson Bay and from Nova Scotia to
California, one hundred and seven stomachs
were examined. Of these, but one contained
a game-bird (a Quail). Fifteen contained
other birds, one a Squirrel, and the remainder
contained Mice.

0.& Q. Yol. 18, Oct, 1893 p.138

nf