THE LONG-EARED OWL. 



461 



straiglit upward and remain motionless. In this position the resemblance 

 to the stub of a broken limb is remarkable." 



In my experience of these birds in Yakima, Benton, Chelan, and Okano- 

 gan Counties, deserted nests of the Magpie or Crow were invariably used by 

 the Owls, and then only those to be found at moderate heights in swamp- 

 willow thickets or groves of quaking asp. April is the nesting month and 



April loth is the . __ _ 



date for fresh 

 eggs, but others, 

 possibl_y second 

 sets, have been 

 taken in June. 

 The eggs, from 

 four to six in 

 n u m b e r, are 

 normally of a 

 delicate clear 

 white, but they 

 soon become 

 nest-stained and 

 are often blood- 

 marked. Both 

 parents are usu- 

 ally at home and 

 actively interest- 

 ed in their nest. 

 One instance will 

 suffice. Having 

 sighted a likely 

 looking Crow's 

 nest about ten 

 feet up in a wil- 

 low clump of a 

 swamp bordering 

 Lake Chelan, I 

 made towards it. 

 Upon my ap- 

 ]3roach an Owl 

 slipped noiseless- 

 ly from the nest ' .:.-.-,. i^^-- 



and left me to Taken in Benton County. Photo by the Author 



plan the ascent a nesting site of the long-e.-\red owl. 



