300 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



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The nest was in a large shallow hollow, 28 x 32 inches in diameter at the bottom 

 with an entrance 18 x 20 inches in diameter set at an angle of 45° and facing to- 

 wards the southeast. The hollow was only 8 inches deep on the exposed side, 

 thus permitting fairly good illumination. Of still more importance the nest site 

 was only 22 feet from the ground and a strategic branch some five feet above the 

 nest afforded a point of attachment for a ladder combination from which pictures 

 might be taken. * * * At the very moment when this nest was discovered 

 a second pair of these birds were domiciled in a Redtail's nest placed in a tall white 

 elm in heavy timber three and a half miles to the northwest and just ninety-two 

 feet above the ground. 



Thinking that the weather was too cold to keep the owl off her eggs 

 long enough for photography, he pocketed the three eggs that the 

 nest contained on February 17 and relied on her laying a second set; 

 this she did, and on "March 23, three more eggs were found, just 

 like the first and lying in exactly the same little hollow." From that 

 time on a fine series of photographs were taken, and observations made 

 on the life history of these owls. 



Major Bendire (1892) says: 



Mr. George E. Beyer, of New Orleans, Louisiana, also found a nest of this 

 species, containing three young, in a hollow pine log on the ground. * * * 

 Mr. Audubon also says that he has twice found the eggs of the Great Horned Owl 

 in fissures of rocks. * * * Col. N. S. Goss, in his "Birds of Kansas," states 

 that on the plains or treeless portions of the State it likewise nests in fissures of 

 rocks. These birds are poor nest builders, and if they do construct one of their 

 own, it is through necessity and not from choice. In the Eastern States the 

 majority use open nests, generally those of the Red-tailed and Red-shouldered 

 Hawks, the Crows, and sometimes those of the larger Herons, while farther west 

 hollow trees, when procurable, are still, to a considerable extent, resorted 

 to. * * * 



Judge John N. Clark, of Saybrook, Connecticut, writes me that he found a pair 

 of these birds nesting in a quadruple fork of a large chestnut tree some 25 feet 

 from the ground, the eggs lying on the bare wood, without any loose material 

 around them whatever, not even a single leaf. Mr. P. W. Smith, jr., found 

 another pair occupying an old soap box which had been originally put up for 

 squirrels in a grove not over 100 yards from a house. The top of the box had 

 blown off and it was nearly filled with dry leaves. 



He quotes Dr. William L. Ralph as follows: 



In the Indian River region of Florida, the Great Horned Owl usually lives in the 

 pine wood districts, breeding altogether in these localities, and I have never known 

 it to nest in other situations in any part of this State that I am familiar with. 

 At and in the vicinity of Merritt's Island, where I visited for several winters, these 

 birds were so common that eight of their nests were found in one season while 

 looking for those of the Bald Eagle, but, like most Florida birds, they are gradually 

 decreasing. 



In this region these Owls always deposit their eggs in the nests of the Bald 

 Eagle, and while I think that these are usually, if not always first deserted by the 

 original owners, the natives say that the Owls drive the Eagles from and appro- 

 priate them for their own use. * * * These nests are originally constructed 

 of large sticks and limbs, lined with dead grasses, palmetto leaves, flags, and 

 weeds — usually with swamp grasses alone — and after being taken by the Owls 



