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. It seemed 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 being 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 

 egg 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 being 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 



