292 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



June 6, 1931, as he was flying about through the trees. This bird 

 was not at all shy and decoyed readily to a squeak." 



Nesting. — Major Bendire (1892) quotes William G. Smith, on three 

 nests found by him, as follows: 



The first nest was taken on June 2, 1890, in Estes Park, Colorado, at an altitude 

 of probably 10,000 feet. The site, a Woodpecker's hole in a dead aspen, was about 

 10 feet from the ground and the burrow about 10 inches deep. It contained three 

 fresh eggs. The female, which was in the hole, had to be removed by force, 

 and in doing so one of the eggs was broken; they were lying on a few chips and 

 feathers from the bird. 



On June 4, I found a second nest about a mile from the former site and in a 

 similar situation, a ravine near water. This contained two fresh eggs and an egg 

 of a Flicker (Colaptes cafer). They were placed in a Woodpecker's hole in a large 

 aspen, about 8 feet from the ground and 10 inches below the aperture, while about 

 6 feet above this was a nest of young Flickers. The cavity appeared to have been 

 formerly used by a squirrel and the eggs were deposited on the old nesting material. 

 It also contained a few Flicker's feathers. The female clung tenaciously to her 

 eggs. 



On June 20, I found the third nest, but this time at a considerably less altitude, 

 probably about 8,000 feet. It was in a pine tree in a Woodpecker's hole about 

 14 feet from the ground, and contained four partly incubated eggs. On rapping 

 the tree the old bird flew out and perched on a limb close by while I investigated 

 the nest. This consisted of a few feathers in the bottom of the burrow, which 

 was about 10 inches deep. 



Frank C. Willard (1909) took a set of three fresh eggs, on May 18, 

 1909, near the summit of the Huachuca Mountains, at the head of 

 Ramsay Canyon, Arizona. He says: 



The eggs in the set were fresh and were lying on the chips in the bottom of the 

 cavity, which was twenty-five feet up in a pine stub. The growth at this point 

 consisted of scattering pines and firs. The altitude was 7,700 feet. 



On May 30 I started another female flammeola from her nest in a Flicker's hole, 

 twelve feet up in an oak tree growing in the bed of a canyon on the west slope of 

 of the Huachucas, at an altitude of 6,000 feet. I left the two eggs and returning 

 June 11 secured the full set, incubation well along. The bird left the nest as I 

 climbed up, and alighted on a drooping branch near the entrance. I dropt down 

 and, picking up my camera, secured a snap shot at a distance of eight feet, im- 

 mediately after which she flew away. It was a very comical picture she made as 

 she sat there, opening first one eye and then the other, like a sleepy child, in an 

 endeavor to accustom herself to the glare of the bright sun. 



Mr. van Rossem (1936) found a nest containing young, on June 9, 

 1931, in the Santa Ritas, in an old flicker hole 10 feet up in a dead pine. 



Eggs. — The flammulated screech owl lays three or four eggs; these 

 are about oval, the shell is finely granulated and slightly glossy, and 

 the color is white, with a faint creamy tint. They are about midway 

 in size between the eggs of the elf owl and those of the Mexican screech 

 owl. 



The measurements of 38 eggs average 29.1 by 25.5 millimeters; the 

 eggs showing the four extremes measure 32.1 by 25.1, 30.2 by 26.5, 

 27.9 by 25.4, and 28 by 24 millimeters. 



