<h2 id="c6">A QUEER PARTNERSHIP.</h2>
<p>A fine afternoon of that lovely spring
month, May, found me ready for an afternoon
collecting among the birds.
Leaving home, I made my way to the
river bank, and slowly strolled along its
banks, finding much to amuse and interest
me among the birds and flowers, seeing
many old friends and a few new ones.
After going about half a mile, I came to
a well wooded place on one of the banks
where the tall pines found safe homes for
the crows, and a few families were raised
here every year. A little way back,
partly up the hill, was a dead basswood
stump or tree, which contained the
home of a golden-winged woodpecker
or flicker, which I had found a few days
before by seeing the bird leaving the nesting
hole. As the hole was between 30
and 40 feet from the ground, I put on
my climbers and was soon in a position
to investigate; so, seating myself on a
large limb that branched out just below
the nest, I inserted my hand, and got
quite a start on catching hold of some
soft, downy creature, which I thought
must be a squirrel, but imagine my surprise
to find that I had secured an adult
screech owl from out of the woodpecker’s
nest. The owl, which had lain quietly
enough in my hands, put an end to my
thoughts by suddenly coming to life, and
very active life at that, and putting its
claws into my hand, prepared to give
itself a good startoff. But I had hold of
its legs, and as I did not like the way it
was holding on, I put it back into the
hole, from which in the meantime I had
taken an egg, which on examining proved
to be the woodpecker’s and not an owl
egg. Though the eggs are both white, the
woodpecker’s is larger than it is broad
and more of a glossy texture, while the
owl’s is nearly round and also much
larger.</p>
<p>Now was the puzzle, what was the
owl doing in the woodpecker’s nest,
which was claimed by the latter, as it
had deposited an egg in it, and also was
seen leaving the nest a day or two before.
The only conclusion that I could
arrive at was that the owl had taken
possession for the day and so turned the
woodpecker out.</p>
<p>So far I had not been able to find an
owl’s nest, but as I could see by the loss
of feathers that the owl had been setting
I proceeded to try and find the nest, and
decided to try the tree further up; so,
leaving the owl in the flicker’s home, I
continued my climb to the top of the
stub, and found the top rotted away, leaving
quite a hollow eighteen inches deep
with a small hole through a rotten place
in the bark, through which I could see
something white, so, carefully putting in
my hands, I was delighted to find four
young owls which were about ten days
old, ugly little things, covered with a
dirty white down, with the feathers just
commencing to show and with their yellow
beaks and large eyes. They did not
look a very interesting pet, but still I
secured two and left two for the mother
owl. I descended the tree and put my
treasure safely away in my collecting bag.</p>
<p>I would like to know how the owl and
flicker arranged the boarding matter, for
I did not get time to go back for a week,
when from the woodpecker’s nest I took
six eggs and found the two owlets nearly
ready to fly, but I saw neither of the old
birds. So whether the owl continued to
stay with the flicker or not, or whether
it had just gone for the day, I shall never
know; but still it was interesting to find
the two nests on the one tree within three
feet of each other, one containing eggs
and the other young birds.</p>
<p>The owls that I had taken were safely
reared and prove both amusing and interesting
pets, but their life while in my
keeping we will leave for another time.</p>
<p><span class="lr"><span class="sc">D. Welby.</span></span></p>
<div class="pagenum" id="Page_62">62</div>
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