352 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



swooped down upon me, striking me such a blow on the top of the head 

 that my cap was knocked off and for a moment it made me wonder 

 whether I was going up or coming down. In order to avoid a second 

 attack I had to wave my arms frantically about my head, as I now had 

 no covering on my head a second attack might have proved much more 

 serious * * * when I looked into the nest there were two nice 

 little owlets, doing their best to back away from me." Neilson (1930) 

 writes: "I still carry scars on my arms received in repeated attacks by 

 a pair of old birds when I was engaged in securing pictures of the 

 young in the spring of 1921. Their method of attack was to launch 

 themselves from a tree and fly straight for my face and only once did 

 they attempt their attack from behind and my stockman's jacket was 

 all that saved my neck a severe laceration. Knocking them to the 

 ground once or twice seemed only to make them more determined." 



Making use of the dates for fresh eggs already given and adding 

 28 days, we may look for young owls as early as the middle of February, 

 in Kansas, to the last of April, in Manitoba. Some owlets have been 

 found in their nest as late as July 10, but these were, no doubt, from 

 second settings. 



Cameron (1907) says that the owlets are so pugnacious "that the 

 strongest finally drives the others from the nest to occupy a branch 

 near, where they pretend to fight but avoid the real issue by twirling 

 round and hanging head downwards by their scansorial feet." 



By the time the youngsters are two months old they are as large 

 as the adults. About that age they learn to fly and then leave the nest. 

 After that, although they may fly to neighboring trees, they sometimes 

 keep in the vicinity of the nest for as much as a month longer, before 

 finally leaving. 



Warren (1911) records that at one nest with three young there 

 were: "As a food supply, the hindquarters of a cottontail rabbit, a 

 pocket gopher (Thomomys), and three young Pinyon Jays, just about 

 large enough to leave the nest. The heads of these latter were 

 missing." Donahue (1923) says of a nest containing three very 

 young owls, that there were "several parts of rabbits in the nest 

 cavity, also a freshly killed Bobwhite." Later, he found flicker 

 feathers there. 



Plumages. — Owlets just out of their eggs are blind and so nearly 

 naked that they look like pink featherless lumps of flesh. They are 

 then about as weak and helpless as birds can be. But in a few hours, 

 possibly as soon as dry, the white down shows. Five days later 

 white pinfeathers have started. The eyes open when they are about 

 one week old, and at that age the eyes are brown. At ten days of 

 age the white down covers the body, and the pinfeathers that have 

 been growing under the down begin to show. During the next week 

 changes are quite rapid. About the twelfth day, the previously 



