FLORIDA BARRED OWL 199 



the tail of the sitting bird could be seen projecting from them.'' In 

 only one instance did he find them using an old hawk's nest; "this 

 nest was situated in a large pine tree, 62 feet from the ground, at a 

 point where the trunk divided into several large limbs, and it was 

 placed in the forks thereby formed. It was composed of sticks and 

 Spanish moss, and lined with small twigs, Spanish moss, and feathers 

 from the sitting birds. It was found in a wild and desolate spot 

 about Q% miles south of San Mateo, the tree containing the nest 

 standing on the edge of a small but dense cypress swamp." 



Three other nests are mentioned; one was "in the hollow top of a 

 broken cypress tree standing near the edge of a small swamp"; in 

 another case "the nesting site was a hole in the side of a cypress tree 

 about 28 feet from the ground and about 10 inches deep"; another 

 "nest was in a hole in the side of a very large pine tree, 21 feet from 

 the ground. The cavity was 18 inches in diameter." 



Eggs. — The eggs of the Florida barred owl are practically indis- 

 tinguishable from those of the northern race. The measurements of 

 40 eggs in the United States National Museum average 51.4 by 43.5 

 millimeters; the eggs showing the four extremes measure 55 bj^ 45.3, 

 53.8 by 47, 46.5 by 41.1, and 47.5 by 40.5 millimeters. 



Young. — Dr. Ralph told Major Bendire (1892) that the young 

 remain in the nest about 42 days. But many of the nests are so 

 insecure and the parents are so careless that the young sometimes fall 

 out and perish. C. J. Pennock saw this happen and wrote to me about 

 it. While he was trying to photograph an owl flying from her nest, 

 a shallow cavity in the top of a dead palmetto stub, she kicked or 

 pushed the two young out of the nest as she left ; the young fell to the 

 ground, one was killed by the fall and the other soon died. Although 

 they were not more than two or three days old and their eyes were not 

 yet open, their stomachs were crammed full of flesh, bones, and hair 

 of mice, or other small mammals. 



Mr. Stockard (1905) says: "I reared a fine pair of these birds in 

 1903, and after they became able to fly and were set at liberty, they 

 returned each day about sunset to their familiar feeding shelf and cried 

 for food; they continued this habit for about one month after being 

 liberated; I then left this locality and so was unable to observe them 

 longer." 



Food. — Southern barred owls live on practically the same classes of 

 food as their northern relatives, with the substitution of many southern 

 forms of life for those found in the north. Mr. Pennock says, in his 

 notes, that "while the smaller mammals, cottontail and marsh rabbits, 

 mice and rats of various sorts, serve them well, they are pleased to 

 vary such a diet with almost any water-living amphibian or fish within 

 their capabilities; fiddler crabs and crayfishes form a considerable 

 portion of their food at times." 



