254 Sketches of Some Common Birds. 



in a hickory tree, and two eggs were laid by February 

 24th. In the Oologist for March, 1893, Charles E. Keyes, 

 of Mt. Yernon, Iowa, furnishes a record of sets found in 

 1892, as follows: February 13th, three fresh eggs; Febru- 

 ary 20th, two fresh eggs; February 29th, two eggs, incu- 

 bation far advanced; March 1st, two sets of two eggs 

 each, slightly incubated. Of these six Dests, five were in 

 old nests of hawks and crows, and one was in a hollow 

 in a dead oak. The height of the nest above the ground 

 varies from thirty to ninety feet. The eggs are white, 

 and ellipsoidal in shape, averaging 2.18 inches in length 

 by 1.80 inches in width. 



The rapacity of this powerful nocturnal marauder makes 

 its presence most undesirable in any neighborhood. It is a 

 famous raider of open chicken roosts near its haunts, and 

 its midnight forays often strike with consternation th'e 

 good housewife when she beholds the remains of her 

 slaughtered brood on some fateful morning. Hares and 

 rabbits, squirrels, partridges, smaller birds, mice, frogs, 

 and moles, with other delicacies, all find their way into 

 the larder of this robber baron. Should he espy a mink, 

 weasel, raccoon, or skunk engaged like himself in a noc- 

 turnal foray, he is not withheld by the reputed "honor 

 among thieves" from seizing the prey and tucking it 

 away in his game-bag as a luncheon for Mrs. Bubo and 

 her offspring. Fragments and bones of all the above 

 animals have been noted about the home of this owl, 

 indicating its general preferences in its regular bill of 

 fare. 



The habitat of the great horned owl is all of North 

 America east of the great plains. It prefers the denser 

 woods and the old growths of the undisturbed forests, 

 and becomes so attached to any neighborhood that it will 

 remain for years even when the nest is annually harried. 

 In Ornithologist and Oologist for September, 1883, F. H. 

 Carpenter records his finding a set of eggs annually for 

 eleven years in the same nest; but the woodsman's axe 

 finally destroyed the home of the owls. 



