THE WILSON QUARTERLY. 13 



NESTING OF THE AM. LONG-EARED OWL IN 

 MILWAUKEE CO.. WIS. 



BY ALLAN W. CARPENTER. 



This Owl is a quite common resident of soiitliern Wiscon- 

 sin, but, like the rest of its family, is rarely observed, on 

 account of its retiring habits. 



On April 15, 1890, while on a collecting trip near Milwau- 

 kee, Wis.. I made my first acquaintance with the nesting 

 of this bird. The nest was situated in a small tamarack 

 tree in a dense tamarack swamp, and was undoubtedly the 

 former property of crows, several pairs of which were nest- 

 ing within a few yards of the place. 



When the nest was discovered the owl was sitting upon 

 it in plain sight, and had it not been for this fact, the nest 

 would probably have been passed by for a crow's. The owl 

 did not leave the nest until I was half way up the tree (the 

 nest was about 35 feet from the ground), then she flew off 

 and glided away with noiseless flight. 



The nest contained five dirty-white eggs, deposited upon 

 a scanty lining of feathers from the owl's breast. The 

 eggs were so badly soiled and discolored that the original 

 color, a pure white, was hardly discoverable. 



The owl (only one of the pair was noticed) stayed near 

 during the robbing of her home, now and then flitting from 

 tree to tree and uttering a chicking sound. 



On blowing, the eggs were found to be badly incubated, 

 but the contents were successfully removed. The dimen- 

 sions of the set, which is still in my posession, are as fol- 

 lows : 1.62x1.28, 1.67x1.24, l.Olxl.SO, 1.58x1.3], 1.63x1.31. 



From the statement that the owl and crows breed in 

 such close proximity it might be inferred that the two 

 species were on friendly terms. Such, however, does not 

 seem to be the case. Before leaving the swamp I observed 

 a number of crows attacking and driving before them an 

 owl of this species. 



In this same swamp and on this same day, I took a set of 

 three eggs of Red-tailed Hawk. 



