140 The Wilson Bulletin. Xo. T2-To. 



four fresh eggs. This nesting was mined Ijy a violent wind 

 storm, yet it was beHeved that the owls occasionally returnei! 

 to their chosen quarters. 



It may be in place to say a few words regarding the popular 

 conception of a Flicker's nest. It is usually described as "a 

 hot, dark hole." The nest in the hollow tree cannot be vastly 

 different from that in the barn. There it is hot when it is hot 

 elsewhere, and it is cold when it is cold elsewhere, even when 

 it is windy outside enough of the breeze enters to stir the feath- 

 ers on the bird's back. But the worst misa])prehension exists 

 regarding the darkness in the nest. It is surprising how much 

 light enters through a hole two and one-half inches in diameter. 

 In the case of the south hole in our barn it lights the box suf- 

 ficiently in the daytime for one to read a newspaper spread on 

 the bottom, when the eye is at the customary distance nf aliout 

 twenty-two inches. 



The number of eggs laid in these barn nests has been from 

 seven to nine, with generally one to three infertile. They were 

 deposited on the hay in the old nest, on the level surface of 

 the sawdust in the new without any eft'ort to hollow out a 

 place for them. Beginning with the laying of the first egg it 

 is the custom for one of the pair to remain in the hole as a 

 guard for the jewel-like treasures that lie there. A lapse in 

 this guardianship duty must have occurred some time in the 

 day of Alay 16 last, for an enemy entered and destroyed the 

 two eggs of the nest. Circumstantial evidence pointed to a 

 pair of Red-headed Wood]:)eckers that in their search for a 

 n.esting-]Tlace were acting like beings possessed by an evil 

 spirit. The next morning the distressed female Flicker flew 

 about as if seeking a new nest. Pier mate sittir.g in the south 

 hole, called to her. evidently coaxing her to return to the old 

 place, which she did. 



A study of the growth of the young by weight has included 

 the weighing and the marking of the eggs in the order in which 

 they were laid. The usual time for depositing the eggs in the 

 nest appears to be the hom' between five and six o'clock in the 



