152 HAWK OWL— DAY OWL. 



to carry away a fallen bird before it can be secured. This 

 Owl retires to rest at night like an ordinary bird, and is but seldom 

 seen hunting during the twilight. It is said to breed in hollow 

 trees and sometimes to construct a nest among the branches of 

 sticks, grass, and feathers. The eggs — from such information as 

 I can gather — are from three to six in number, and measure from 

 i^ to 1 34^ in length, by ij/g to 134 in breadth. They are white 

 and almost spherical. Further information respecting the nidi- 

 fication of this species and specimens of its eggs are special 

 desiderata. 



Mr. J. G. Wood, in his " Illustrated Natural History," in 

 alluding to this Owl, says: " Its nest is generally made on the 

 summit of a tree, contrary to the usual habit of Owls, which usually 

 take possession of a hollow in some dead branch, and lay their 

 eggs on the soft, decaying wood, or make their home in a con- 

 venient crevice of some old building." But Mr. Wood here must 

 be drawing entirely upon his imagination or from hearsay, for the 

 Hawk Owl though sometimes, as we have already observed, 

 building its nest in the branches of a tree, oftener chooses the 

 hollows of trees, and deposits its eggs ou ///e so/if decaying wood. 



The specimen from which Plate XXX was taken was pur- 

 chased some years since alive in the Bonsecours market. It is the 

 second instance only, known to me, in which the Hawk Owl has 

 been so taken in Canada. This individual was kept alive and in 

 good condition for upwards of six weeks, and I had abundant 

 opportunity of studying his general character and various attitudes. 

 For some time he was very timid and suspicious, would eat noth- 

 ing, and seemed determined to mope himself to death. After a 

 little judicious negligence, however, in visiting him, and a short 

 term of starvation, he came round a point or two, and even showed 

 some measure of interest and expectancy when food was brought 

 to him. At the end of a fortnight he ate his meat — cut into small 

 junks — greedily, and, to my surprise, drank water freely. I say 

 to my surprise, for the impression conveyed to my mind heretofore 

 by the writings of authors generally on the Owl family had been 

 that these birds never drank, and in fact detested water. But 



