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extra liberty as much as one would have expected, passing

most of their time close together on the same perch.


About the middle of April I noticed a * scrape ’ in a

corner of the aviary. This ‘ scrape ’ was placed in a small

recess open only above and at the end, and formed by two sides

of the aviary and a box placed to make a low nesting place.


Meanwhile, except that they hooted a good deal more,

there was but little change in the behaviour of the birds, who

were still to be seen side by side on the perch.


Nothing further occurred till, on the 2nd of May, the hen

was discovered sitting on an egg ; except for the slight

depression or ‘ scrape,’ there had been no attempt at the

formation of a nest, and the egg was deposited on the bare

ground.


In two days a second egg was laid ; and incubation was

steadily proceeding when, one day, about a week later, both eggs

disappeared.


The cause of the disappearance is still a mystery ; they

were obviously stolen, and not eaten or destroyed by the birds

themselves ; but I was unable to satisfy myself as to whether the

thief was a rat or human. If the former, they must have taken

advantage of the female being off the nest, for she would

furiously resent any interference when sitting ; and even had she

been feeding, I doubt the rats’ power to remove the two eggs,

entire and unbroken, over a clear space of some twelve feet to

the nearest hole, without being attacked ; be this as it may,

however, the fact remains that, on the 14th May, the eggs had

gone, and the female was standing disconsolately a few feet

from the nest.


By the next day matters were as usual, and both birds

seemed to have given up all thoughts of nesting ; I was, there¬

fore, considerably surprised, when passing through the aviary 011

30th May, to see the female once more 011 the nest ; and the

following morning I found her sitting on one egg.


Two more eggs followed on this occasion, being laid with

a day’s interval between each. They are like all Owls’ eggs, pure

white in colour and of an uniform oval in shape, and somewhat

larger than those of our Tawny Owl.


The incubation was entirely carried on by the hen, who,

in fact, never seemed to leave her eggs, although I fancy she

probably did so in the still hours of night.



