174 LAND BIRDS 
longed to wring the necks of the ghostly choir and end 
their music forever. Yet, when a friend offered the same 
result with a gun, the relief was declined. The next 
day when we found many despoiled nests and I was 
told that these same Owls were the ravagers, I regretted 
my clemency. 
This species breeds more or less abundantly through- 
out the redwood district and in most of the mountainous 
regions of the State. So early in the year do they com- 
mence their cares that January sometimes finds young in 
the nest. The only pair with whose domestic arrange- 
ments I ever attempted to interfere had domiciled 
themselves in a hollow tree, where, although at a 
distance of thirty or more feet from the ground, it was 
accessible from a ledge near by. All dreams of watching 
the young develop were rudely dispelled the first time an 
attempt was made to pry into the nest hole. The prier 
escaped with one finger badly damaged and nerves some- 
what shaken, never again to meddle with that Bubo 
household. 
The incubation lasted four weeks, and then we knew 
by the squeaking cries and hisses that issued from the 
nest, as well as by seeing the adults carry food, that the 
young were hatched. From that time on for nearly 
eleven weeks the devoted parents foraged for the brood, 
bringing food constantly, and never once did those small 
Owls venture to peep out of the hole in the daytime. 
Just at dusk we could hear them scrambling about and 
practising little “ too-hoos,’ and fancied that we could 
see a head or two in the doorway. The adults roosted 
