THE OOLOGIST. 



329 



I am informed that Mr. E. \V. Durl'oe 

 of Houghton has taken the eprgs from 

 the same uest for three years; the earli- 

 est date being March 14th and the lat- 

 est April 4th. Mr. Durfeesays the eggs 

 are three in number, white and spheri- 

 cal. 



The eggs are usnally deposited in a 

 hollow in a tree, but Oliver Davie says 

 that an old hawk's or crow's nest is also 

 oecupieil. and this is not nnlikely when 

 we compare the nesting habits of the 

 Great Horned Owl. which are well stud- 

 ied hereabouts, and known to vaiy in 

 choice of site. 



In 1879, April 12th, my lamented 

 friend, Charles W. Gunn of Grand Rap 

 ids, found a pair of Owls nesting in a 

 hollow limb of a sycamore tree. Mr. 

 Benjamin F. Syke, of Kalamazoo, Mich- 

 igan, has twice found this owl breeding 

 in Southern Michigan. Joseph West- 

 nedge, Frank Judson and Leon Reed 

 have also found nests in Kalamazoo or 

 adjoining counties. All of these nest- 

 ing sites were hollows and generally 

 well up from the ground. 



The eggs of the "Round-head," or 

 "Wood- Owl" are two or three in num- 

 ber. Some authorities say four, but 

 this numl)er is not reached in the Pen- 

 insular State. In appearance, they 

 may be said to be good smaller copies 

 of the eggs of the Great Horned Owl. 



The notes of this owl are vei'y pleas- 

 ing to me. Hollow and I'everberaling 

 like the notes of the larger owls, they 

 still are quite dissimilar from the songs 

 or cries of all nocturnal birds. It is 

 dillicult to describe, and to l)e a|)preeia- 

 ted ought to Ije heard. To mc it is very 

 pleasing, and the cries of a Barred Owl 

 about the camp always lend a marked 

 attraction to this free out-door life. 



On April 9, 1B73, I secured a tine live 

 specimen which I kept as a pet. At 

 first it was very savage and would 

 throw itself on its back when touched, 

 defending itself with its claws. After 

 some weeks it improved in manners 



and would take strips of meat from my 

 lingers. It linally accepted caresses 

 and seemed to like to be stroked, but it 

 always mopped its bill with a loud noise 

 whenewer I approached. I owned it 

 for a year, during wliicii tinu' it Hew 

 about the hayloft of tiie barn. At 

 times it was sadly neglected, but I am 

 satisfied that it was about able to take 

 care of itself, at least for a time, for I 

 found the boluses of hair and bones 

 which it at times threw up from its 

 crop and which upon examination 

 proved to be the remains of mice which 

 were (luite plenty about the barn. This 

 owl would eat lish, flesh or fowl with 

 equal avidity and would always swal- 

 low birds, mammals or lish entire if i)os- 

 sible. Never unwilling to accept and 

 swallow food if of proper dimensions, 

 he would never in my presence toncn 

 or tear to pieces a chunk of meat but 

 would patiently wait until he was 

 alone. At last he escaped one lucklshs 

 (for him) Sunday morning and was 

 ruthles.sly shot while the church bells 

 were ringing, by a nian who thiMight 

 more of his hen-roost than lie did of 

 holding the day sacred. 



This common owl is not rarely called 

 the "barn owl" by the ignorant, and I 

 have hail specimens brnuglit nu' and 

 thus wrongly identified as this much 

 rarer species. And I have no doubt 

 that obsi-rvations are sometimes incor- 

 rectly recorded confounding these two 

 owls. 



(iuEAT (JuAV Owi.. Si'oliap/cn/x cin- 

 ertw (Gmel). This is a rare straggler 

 frf)m the far north and is very rarely 

 •seen in the Lowi-i- Peninsula of our 

 state. Nearly all of the state lists omit 

 this owl. and all of th(^ older authorities 

 ignore it, with tin' exee|»tion of Knee- 

 land's Birds of Keweenaw l'(»int. IH.'iT. 

 Coveit, IMTH, liird-^ of Lower Peninsula 

 embra<-es this Owl. Mr. A. \\ . Boies 

 has fouml it in the ri»per Peninsula. 

 Professor J. B. Steere embraces it in his 

 Migration of Michigan Birds Mr. 



