174 LAND BIRDS 



longed to wring the necks of the ghostly choir and end 

 their music forever. Yet, when a friend offered the same 

 result with a gun, the relief was declined. The next 

 day when we found many despoiled nests and I was 

 told tliat these same Owls were the ravagers, I regretted 

 my clemency. 



This species breeds more or less abundantly through- 

 out the redwood district and in most of the mountainous 

 regions of the State. So early in the year do they com- 

 mence their cares that January sometimes finds young in 

 the nest. The only pair with whose domestic arrange- 

 ments I ever attempted to interfere had domiciled 

 themselves in a hollow tree, where, although at a 

 distance of thirty or more feet from the ground, it was 

 accessible from a ledge near by. All dreams of watching 

 the young develop weie rudely dispelled the first time an 

 attempt was made to pry into the nest hole. The prier 

 escaped with one finger badly damaged and nerves some- 

 what shaken, never again to meddle with that Bubo 

 household. 



The incubation lasted four weeks, and then we knew 

 by the squeaking cries and hisses that issued from the 

 nest, as well as by seeing the adults carry food, that the 

 young were hatched. From that time on for nearly 

 eleven weeks the devoted parents foraged for the brood, 

 bringing food constantly, and never once did those small 

 Owls venture to peep out of the hole in the daytime. 

 Just at dusk we could hear them scrambling about and 

 practising little " too-hoos," and fancied that we could 

 see a head or two in the doorway. The adults roosted 



