WESTERN HORNED OWL 325 



molested except once, when one of them developed a decided taste for 

 prize Wyandot chickens." 



The actions of the old birds vary a good deal when their nests are 

 molested or robbed. Usually they show extreme anger and reckless- 

 ness, diving again and again at the intruder and keeping up a constant 

 cackling, or snapping of their bills. On the other hand, they some- 

 times make no disturbance whatever. At one nest visited by Gil- 

 man, he (1909) says that the old birds "made no demonstration when 

 I climbed to the home. A Redtail that percht in the top of a neigh- 

 boring tree did not escape so easily tho, as the male owl savagely 

 attackt him, and drove him off." Apparently the female does all the 

 incubating, although the male is often in the vicinity, and is generally 

 ready to do his share toward defense of nest or young. 



Eggs.— Usually there are two eggs to a set, sometimes three. 

 Fresh eggs are to be expected in the southern sections of Texas and 

 Arizona, and presumably New Mexico, in February, but later farther 

 north; for instance, near Santa Fe, "March 10 to April 10," according 

 to Jensen (1923). The measurements of 47 eggs average 54.7 by 46.5 

 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 59.2 by 

 48.3, 56 by 49, 51.8 by 46.3, and 54.1 by 44 millimeters. 



Young. — Since there has been some confusion between the reports 

 for this species and for the Montana horned owl, much that is said 

 under that subspecies, particularly about "Nesting", "Eggs", and 

 "Young", applies nearly as well to pallescens. 



After the eggs have been incubated about 28 or 29 days, the young 

 hatch out as downy, yellowish-white balls. They are very weak and 

 unable at first even to stand erect ; but their legs and feet, being quite 

 strong, enable them to retain a firm grip of the sticks and other founda- 

 tions of their home. There is usually a very noticeable variation in 

 size among the two or three owlets of a brood, due to the eggs being 

 laid as much as two or three days apart. As incubation begins as soon 

 as the first egg is deposited, the eggs may hatch several days apart. 

 At first the young birds take little notice of any intruding person, but 

 grow shier as they grow older and then resent intrusion to the best of 

 their ability, hissing and shrinking away as far as the limits of the nest 

 will allow. 



Plumages. — At first the down does not entirely cover the little 

 owls, patches of bare skin showing here and there. But as the down 

 grows longer and spreads out more and more, the bare patches dimin- 

 ish in size. The succeeding plumage is much darker but is more uni- 

 form in color and the markings less sharply defined than the third, or 

 adult, plumage that appears later. 



Food. — While this owl usually remains hidden during the day and 

 does most of its hunting at night, it can see well enough to do some by 



