54 



THE MUSEUM. 



way from two to eight feet from the 

 mouth of the burrow, they hollow out 

 a place about 12 inches in diameter, in 

 which they gather a small amount of 

 horse manure, on which the eggs are 

 deposited. 



The usual number of eggs found is 

 eight, or nine. The largest number I 

 ever found was eleven, and the small- 

 est was four. When a pair have select- 

 ed their burrow and set up housekeep- 

 ing, no dog is allowed to enter it. If 

 it does it is sure to get into trouble 

 with Mrs Owl. I have at different 

 times found dogs wandering about with 

 both eyes pecked out, done I believe 

 by the owls in protecting their nest 

 from them. I have found from exper- 

 ience, while collecting their eggs, that 

 they will fight to protect them. 



In selecting the burrow in which 

 they wish to make their nest, they are 

 quite careless about its location; often 

 they will take one that is in low ground 

 or at the bottom of some slope where 

 the first heavy rain that falls will drown 

 them out; in fact it does not seem to 

 make much difference to them where 

 the hole is situated if it is large enough 

 to admit them. Last spring, a pair 

 thought to make their home in a six- 

 inch drain tile that crossed the public 

 road, and in this all unmindful of the 

 constant stream of travel that was pass- 

 ing, just above their heads. They 

 lived their for two months or more, 

 and would no doubt have stayed all 

 summer, had not the heavy rains driven 

 them out. 



They are quite tame during the sum- 

 mer or until the young ones leave the 

 nest. While one will remain on the 

 nest, the mate will take its place of 

 observation near the mouth of the bur- 

 row, and will allow any one to ap- 

 proach quite near, always looking 

 straight at you, and occasionally bow- 

 ing in a canny sort of a way, until you 

 came too near. Then, with a few 

 sharp clucks, it will fly a little to one 

 side, or right over your head, making 

 all the time a sort of rasping or cluck- 

 ing noise by the rapid movement of its 



mandibles together. It will try with 

 all its might to attract your attention 

 and draw you away from the burrow 

 that contains its nest. If you will fol- 

 low it as it tries to lead yon on, when 

 at a safe distance from its nest it will 

 dart ahead or off to one side to some 

 burrow that is not occupied, where it 

 will alight, and, facing you, will haw 

 several times in succession, and then 

 disappear down the burrow. . 



If you are in search of their nest, 

 take my advice and do not dig it out, 

 for you will only spend your time and 

 labor for nothing, as I found out be- 

 fore I got my first set of eggs. The 

 young owls rarely come to the surface, 

 or see daylight until they are full grown. 

 Only once in several years have I been 

 lucky enough to see them out sunning 

 themselves, when I came unexpectedly 

 on a pair that had their entire family 

 of nine half-grown scattered about the 

 mouth of the burrow, and unseen by 

 the parent birds. I watched them for 

 some time as they hopped around, 

 never getting more than two or three 

 feet away. When at last they discov- 

 ered me, they gave a warning cry; then 

 like a flash they all disappeared down 

 the burrow. Many hours I spent in 

 waiting and watching, but I never 

 could get a sight of them again until 

 they came out full-grown owls. 



"MR.DOOLEY'S'FRiEND DON- 

 AHUE. 



How He Won a Victory Over the 

 Archey Road Woman Suf- 

 frage Club. 



The members of the Archey Road 

 Woman Suffrage Club had been per- 

 mitted to deposit their ballots in a 

 cigar box, the polls of the Sixth Pre- 

 cinct had closed, and late that night 

 Malachi Donahue appeared before his 

 family with a smile of great content on 

 his face. 



"How is the election going?" asked 

 Molly. 



"It's goin' pretty well," said Mr. 

 Donahue. 



