306 TRANSACTIONS OF THE [1895 



19 ('83) I noted a number of nests with young still in them. 

 Sets are 4 of 1, 9 of 2, 19 of 3, and 3 of 4. 



Inland, this bird is seen more or less regularly at Loch 

 Raven, and one was seen as far vip the Gunpowder as Cockeys- 

 ville on April 17, '94 (Fisher). Several were over the Potomac, 

 at Brunswick, on September 26, '93 (Fisher). 



Family Steigid^ — Barn Owls. 

 Strix pratincola (365). American Barn Owl. 



"Not abundant north of the Carolinas" (Birds N. W., 300). 

 "At Washington, where the Barn Owl is by no means rare, they 

 begin nesting from the last week in April to about May 10" 

 (Bendire, 327). "The National Museum collection contains 

 two eggs of this bird taken from the Smithsonian towers, one 

 in June, '61, the other June 1, '65" (C. W. Richmond, Auk, 

 V, 20). On June 28, '90, seven half-grown young were found 

 in this tower (Fisher's Hawks and Owls, 136). "On December 

 8, '93, a young bird that had but recently left its nest was 

 caught, probably hatched some time in October. On February 

 27, '95, another of about the same age was picked up in a bush 

 in the Smithsonian grounds. This was certainly not over two 

 months old, and must have been hatched in the latter part of 

 December, if not early in January ; certainly a most unusual 

 time of the year for this owl to breed in this latitude " (C. E. 

 Bendire, Auk, xii, 180-81). 



Occasionally one is secured anywhere in tidewater Maryland, 

 and they seemed to be more numerous than usual during the 

 spring of '93. On April 6 one was shot at the Old Marine 

 Hospital ; on the 20th, a male at Aberdeen, Harford County; 

 on the 22nd, another male on Patapsco Neck, and on July 27th 

 a female and five downy young were taken alive near the Old 

 Marine Hospital, by A. Wolle. 



