302 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



of a few parts of dry palmetto fans, grass stems and small sticks." 

 Horned owls have also been reported as nesting on the hay in barns 

 and hay barracks, which stood in open spaces and were much fre- 

 quented ; the owners of such places did not disturb them, as they were 

 so useful in destroying rats and mice. 

 Eggs. — Major Bendire (1892) says: 



From one to five eggs have been found in a set, but as a rule two or three are al] 

 that are laid, the smaller number more frequently. In some sections, however, sets 

 of four are not unusual. Mr. J. W. Preston, of Baxter, Iowa, writes me that this 

 number is found by him about once in three sets, and that in the early part of 

 March, 1875, he found a set of five eggs too far advanced in incubation to disturb 

 them, and which were all hatched later. * * * 



I believe that where the Great Horned Owl nests in hollow trees the number of 

 eggs laid by them is usually apt to be larger than where an open nest is used. 

 The young are more secure in such a location and not so likely to fall or be crowded 

 out. * * * 



The eggs * * * are white in color, and show little or no gloss, though 

 there are occasional exceptions; they are rounded oval in shape; the shell is thick 

 and rather coarsely granulated, feeling rough to the touch. 



Dr. Ralph told Bendire (1892) that 60 percent of the nests he found 

 in Florida contained only one egg. Of the 14 nests recorded by Mr. 

 Nicholson, two contained three eggs, three held only one egg or young, 

 and the others were sets of two. All my Massachusetts nests contained 

 two eggs or two young, never more or fewer. Apparently the large 

 sets are laid in the Middle West, where perhaps the food supply is 

 more abundant. 



The measurements of 53 eggs average 56.1 by 47 millimeters; the 

 eggs showing the four extremes measure 59.9 by 50.3 and 50.8 by 

 43.2 millimeters. 



Young. — The following account of the development of young great 

 horned owls is based partially on my own studies of two of the four 

 broods of young that I found in 1907 and partially on the published 

 and unpublished notes of Professor Keyes, E. L. Sumner, Jr., and Dr. 

 Alfred O. Gross. 



Two nearly fresh eggs were taken from the Raynham nest on Febru- 

 ary 18 ; the owl laid a second set, probably around the middle of March, 

 in the same nest ; there were two eggs in the nest on March 23 and on 

 March 31 ; these eggs probably hatched around April 12. On April 14 

 the two young owls were but little larger than newly hatched chickens, 

 they were well covered with pure white down, their eyes were not yet 

 open, they were not able to hold up their heads, and were peeping 

 feebly as they nestled under the warm fur of two cottontail rabbits, 

 the fore-quarters of which had been eaten (pi. 72). On April 25 the 

 owl flew from the nest when I rapped the tree, and the young owls, 

 which were now about two weeks old, were about one-third grown ; the 

 first coat of white down had been replaced by a coat of dirty, buff- 



