STRIGID Ji: — THE OWLS. 69 



kinds of animal food, and was especially fond of fisli and snakes. It was re- 

 markable for its cowardice, being always ridiculoiisly fearful of the smallest 

 dog, the near approacli of one always causing extravagant manifestations 

 of alarm. He was therefore led to conclude that it does not prey upon 

 quadrupeds larger than a hare, that it rarely is able to seize small birds, and 

 tiiat reptiles and fish form no inconsiderable portion of its food. The young 

 Owl in question assumed its full plumage in November, when less than 

 eight months old. It was of full size in all respects except in the length 

 of its claws, wliicli were hardly half the usual size. 



Mr, T. H. Jackson, of West Chester, Penn., has met with fresh eggs of this 

 Owl, February 13, 22, and 28, and has found young birds in their nests from 

 the 2d of March to the 28th. 



Mr. Audubon states that while the Great Horned Owl usually nests in 

 large liollows of decayed trees, he has twice found the eggs in the fissures 

 of rocks. In all these cases, little preparation had been made previous to 

 the laying of the eggs, the bed consisting of only a few grasses and 

 feathers. Wilson, who found them breeding in the swamps of New Jersey, 

 states that the nest was generally constructed in the fork of a tall tree, but 

 sometimes in a smaller tree. They begin to build towards the close of win- 

 ter, and, even in the Arctic regions, Sir John Eichardson speaks of their 

 hatcliing their eggs as early as March. The shape of the egg is very nearly 

 exactly spherical, and its color is a dull white with a slightly yellowish 

 tinge. An egg formerly in the old Peale's Museum of Philadelphia, taken 

 in New Jersey by Alexander Wilson the ornithologist, and bearing his 

 autograph upon its shell, measures 2..31 inches in length by 2.00 in breadth. 

 Another, obtained in the vicinity of Salem, Mass., measures 2.25 inches 

 in length by 1.88 in breadth. In the latter instance the nest was con- 

 structed on a tall and inaccessible tree in a somewhat exposed locality. 

 The female was shot on the nest, and, as she fell, she clutched one of the 

 eggs in a convulsive grasp, and brought it in her claws to the ground. An 

 egg obtained in Tamaulipas, Mexico, on the Piio Grande, by Dr. Berlandier, 

 measures 2.18 inches in length by 1.81 in breadth. 



An egg from Wisconsin, taken by Mr. B. F. Goss, may be considered 

 as about the average in size and color. It is nearly spherical, of a clear 

 bluish-white, and measures 2.30 by 2.00 inches. 



Otus wilsonianus. 



