398 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1911. 
winds of the north and west and flushed from three large perfect eggs 
that lay in a slight hollow of the decayed wood on the north side 
of the cavity. Itseemed to me out of the question, with such temper- 
atures as February and March were sure to bring, to obtain any 
pictures without having the owls put their date a little later in the 
season; so, after a little quick thought, I pocketed these eggs and 
went home. My conviction that the owls would not abandon so 
ideal a site after a probable occupancy of years was fully confirmed 
when, on March 23, three more eggs were found, just like the first 
and lying in exactly the same little hollow. 
Saturday, April 7, was the first warm day of spring. On this day 
Mr. W. W. White, a student in Cornell College, and I made the first 
attempts to secure pictures of the owls’ home and surroundings. 
Mr. White’s ingenuity proved greater than my own and to him are to 
be credited the scheme for getting a camera within range of the nest 
and the successful picture of the eggs in situ. He also took the front 
view of the nest tree, looking northwest and showing the general 
situation and the interesting structure of the big elm itself. I merely 
helped him with the necessary ladders and ropes. Our two 20-foot 
ladders, lashed together and drawn up with a guy rope so as to rest 
on the aforesaid strategic branch, made anything but a solid founda- 
tion from which to work. Nevertheless all the near views of the 
nest were taken from this unsteady perch, the camera bemg tied 
with strings to the sides and rungs of the topmost ladder. 
On April 14 two young were found in the nest and the remaining 
ego was much pipped. Both young were entirely blind and only 
one gave much sign of life. This was done by uttering a querulous 
little note somewhat like that of a very young chicken when excited 
but not sufficiently frightened to peep. The older one was able to 
hold its head up slightly while the smaller was entirely helpless. 
Both shivered as if from cold, the day bemg cool and showery. 
In the nest cavity were a headless bobwhite and the hind parts of an 
adult cottontail rabbit. The weather conditions prevented our 
trying to secure a negative. On April 19 only two young were found 
in the nest, with nothing at all to indicate the fate of the third egg. 
The young appeared quite lifeless, allowing their bills, which were of 
a slaty color with darker tips, to rest in the decayed wood of the nest 
bottom. The feather sheaths were pushing out on the dorsal and 
scapular tracts, and at the tips of these the brown juvenile plumage 
was beginning to show. The primary quills were also sprouting but 
the feathers themselves were still entirely concealed. The nest 
cavity contained a headless adult rabbit and a headless coot, also the 
hind parts of a young rabbit about the size of a striped gopher. No 
assistant was available on this day. On April 21 the young showed 
very noticeable increase in size, the brown feathers now showing 
