184 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



extensive tract of heavy pine timber. Cutting off the pines began 

 soon after this, and the owls were obliged to shift about from one 

 patch of pines to another, as one lot after another was cut. In 1927 

 we found our last nest there, after a lapse of 31 years, and soon after 

 that the last of the pines were cut. Except for an unsuccessful attempt 

 to nest in a neighboring cedar swamp, this pair always nested in old 

 hawks' nests in the white pines. Arthur C. Dyke tells me that he 

 found these owls nesting in these pines every year from 1894 to 1898, 

 inclusive, which gives them a record of 34 years. 



The Winnecimnett pair has a record of 26 years, 1905 to 1930, 

 inclusive, though this pair also was much disturbed by cutting in the 

 woods and was obliged to nest in five different groves of pines, one of 

 which was a quarter of a mile away. In all these cases a pair of red- 

 shouldered hawks nested regularly in the same tract. 



A more recent experience illustrates the remarkable attachment of 

 these owls for a favorite locality in spite of adverse circumstances. 

 We had found a pair nesting for two seasons, 1932 and 1933, in a 

 cavity in a dead oak stub in some swampy, mixed woods. When we 

 visited the locality in 1934 we were disappointed to find some wood- 

 choppers at work there; they had cut 130 cords of wood all around the 

 old stub and were still cutting on March 31. They said that they 

 had seen and heard the owls repeatedly every day and that they were 

 nesting again in the old stub, which now stood out almost alone in the 

 big clearing. In spite of all this disturbance of their old home, the 

 owls had a set of two eggs in the old stub. The following year, 1935, 

 we hardly expected to find them. The old stub had rotted out too 

 badly to hold them, but they were loyal to their old home, in spite of 

 its barrenness, and were living in a large white-oak stub about 50 

 yards away; this was a very unusual nest, as the cavity was open at 

 the top and 8 feet deep, and it held the unusual set of four eggs. 



When the barred owl's nest is in a natural cavity, no nesting mate- 

 rial is taken in, the eggs being laid on the bare, rotten chips or other 

 accumulated rubbish, but often the cavity is well supplied with cast- 

 off downy feathers of the owl. Almost always a number of fluffy 

 feathers or bits of long, soft, gray down are scattered about, clinging 

 to the trees or underbrush in the vicinity of the nest, or seen waving 

 in the breeze on the nest itself; these are very helpful in locating the 

 nest. The cavities chosen are preferably roomy and often quite deep; 

 but I have seen nests in cavities that looked surprisingly small. The 

 8-foot cavity, mentioned above, was by far the deepest I have seen; 

 on the other hand, I once found a nest in an open, shallow hollow, 

 only about 2 inches deep, in the top of an old dead pine; it was only 

 about 30 feet above ground, and I could plainly see the owl asleep on 

 her eggs. 



