TUE FLAMMULATED SCREECH OWI.S. 33 



Gloomy ruvinos appear to be Ihc favorito nesting placos, 

 as many of llio nosls rocoi'ded havo boen so sihialod. An 

 abandoiiod Woodpockers oxcavalion froni 8 b> 20 foet 

 from Ihe ground in a pine ov an aspon is usnally cboscn 

 as a nesting site. The eggs are deposiled ofton about ten 

 inches beb)w the opening, and rest lipon a few chips, 

 fealhers — oitbor of tho Owl or some other bird — or 

 Oven fragments of oak h'avos. Dno of Ihe nests foiind by 

 Mr. Smith had been prevlonsly occnped by Squirrels, 

 npon whose reniainsof housekeeping the eggs of the Owl 

 had been laid. Six feet above, in the same tree, a Flicker 

 [Colaptes cafer) had its homc ; and Madame Flicker miist 

 have some time forgotten which was her own door ; since 

 a Flicker's egg was fonnd in the Owl's nest. Three or 

 foiir eggs of Ulis Uwl constilnte a complement, a less 

 niiml)er being probably an incomplele sei. In color they 

 are white, slightly glossy ; inshapeoval; and ten speci- 

 mens average in size 29 X 25.2. mm. ; the extremes being : 

 length, 31 and 2o.5 mm. ; breadth, 2G and 24.5 mm. The 

 breeding season, in Colorado at least, seems to be chiefly 

 in May and Jime. The female treqiiently has to be remov- 

 ed from the nest by force, so faithfiil is she \o her 

 Charge; and so closely does she ding that tliis oporalion, 

 even with greatest care, sometimes resnlts in damage to 

 the eggs. Um some occasions, however, she may easily be 

 induced to leave, and may even remain hard by, an unde- 

 monstrative spectator of the spoliation of her treasnres. 



With regard to the food of the Flammulated Owl there 

 are very few positive data. Mr. Smith notes that one of bis 

 Owls had ealon sniall rodents; Mr. Beiding states that the 

 specimen killed by him at Big Trees, California, had dijied 

 on beetles; white the specimen taken by Dr. Merriam in 

 the Grand Canon of the Colorado, Arizona, is recorded to 

 have had in its stomach one scorpion, some beetles and 

 a few other insects. 



In the snbjoined table of millimetres measurements, 

 specimens here recorded for the lirst iinie are marked 

 witli an asterisk. 



ORNIS. X. — i! 



