200 



THE OOLOGIST 



eggs in the nest, so the set is not full. 



It was a deserted Crow's nest and as 

 usual the Owl took it just as she found 

 it, making no additions at all. 



The eggs were taken fi'om the nest 

 on the 10th of April and incubation was 

 advanced in some of them fully two- 

 thirds. 



The second set was taken on April 

 30th and was of live eggs, incubation 

 from J to |. The eggs were deposited 

 in a Crow's nest from which I had taken 

 the eggs of the Crow in early April, and 

 for this reason was a much better nest 

 than the Owl usually occupies. These 

 eggs measure 1.71x1.31, 1.73x1.38, 1.67x 

 1.30, 1.67x1.38, 1.69x1.33. Average 1.69 

 xl.34. 



On the same day I took another set of 

 five from a new Crow's nest about 150 

 yards from the tree where I took the 

 other set. This nest had been built 

 over a month before by the Crows aud 

 had been robbed and the Crows shot. 

 Incubation, as usual, was advanced for 

 the reason that the Owl, like all birds of 

 prey that I have had an opportunity to 

 watch, only lays one egg in two days 

 and sometimes not so often, so that it 

 requires at least ten days for a set of 

 five to be deposited, and I was not able 

 to visit the nests as often as I desix'ed, 

 so they were left in the nest several 

 days after the bird finished laying. Av- 

 erage of this set 1.66x1.27. 



My fourth set was taken on the 28th 

 of May and was of five eggs, incubation 

 to about two weeks. The eggs were 

 deposited in a Crow's nest that for some 

 reason had )iot been completed by the 

 Crows aud was a very fiimsey aft'air to 

 say the least and the tree was so slender 

 I could with great difficulty reach the 

 nest. 



The fifth set was taken from a "com- 

 bination" nest, first used by the Crows 

 last year, Init was almost gone this 

 spring so I took a "91" Coopei-'s Hawk 

 nest from a tree near by and patched it 

 up aud the same pair of Hawks, they 



remain in the grove all the year, used 

 it and when I had robbed them the 

 Owls took possession. The set was of 

 five eggs and was taken June 25th, in- 

 cubation advanced. 



This set measures 1.68x1.28, 1.72x1.28, 

 1.71x1.25, 1.75x1.31, 1.66x1.25, average 

 1.70x1.27, fully as large as jjthe average 

 of the previous sets, and this was pro- 

 bably the third set from the same pair 

 of birds. 



I am not sure aLout there being over 

 one male in the grove as a male was 

 shot early in the season and I never saw 

 but three birds after that. 



This season the birds made a most 

 distressing moan when the nest was dis- 

 turbed, something they had never done 

 before. 



All these nests were in pine trees, 

 about 15 to 20 feet from the ground, in 

 a thick grove used as a wind break to 

 my father's house and were not at any 

 great distance from it. 



A great many Blackbirds nest in the 

 grove and even on trees beside those 

 containing the Owl's nest. 



This Owl will use almost anything for 

 a nest. In '89 I put an old Crow's nest 

 in the lower branches of a pine tree and 

 in '90 got a set of eggs from it, and 

 some of the nests I have seen would 

 hardly hold the eggs. 



I do not, in the face of contrary state- 

 ments by several writers in the OoLO- 

 GiST, like to say the Owl does not make 

 its own nest, but I know in over twen- 

 ty-five nests, I have seen, the Owl had 

 not added anything to any of them and 

 pairs or even a small fiock will occupy 

 a grove all the year and not nest unless 

 some old Crow's nest is to be found. 



In nearly every case until this year I 

 have been able to watch the nest from 

 the time the Owl took possession, usu- 

 ally some time before slie lays, until 

 the last egg has been deposited, so I 

 think I am able to be very positive 

 about this. 



If my business did not call for great 



I 



