mee Bow.ss, Kennicott’s Screech Owl. 423 
neither sex appearing to have any regular advantage in this respect. 
As this article is intended to describe the habits of the birds, 
rather than to enter into technicalities regarding size and plumage, 
I will state briefly that we do not have two distinct color phases 
such as are found in the bird of the eastern states. Broadly 
speaking, our bird is brownish on the upper parts, heavily streaked 
with darker brown on the lower parts. Some specimens are 
slightly more grayish than others, especially on the lower parts, 
but there is surprisingly little variation to be found among them. 
My experience has been that the nests are very rarely found, 
as in twenty years collecting I have seen only five sets of their 
eggs from this section. Three nests containing young have also 
been examined, although I have spared no pains in trying to locate 
their home sites. The eggs are almost invariably deposited in 
natural hollows in trees, the only exceptions being extra big holes 
made by the Northwestern Flicker (Colaptes cafer saturatior). 
One of these two cases was a hole that had been excavated to a 
depth of only about six inches, in a lone dead fir stub that stood 
in a vacant lot in the city. A most unusual nesting site in every 
way for these owls, as the cavities used are most often two or three 
feet in depth and situated in well wooded localities. The nests 
that I have seen were placed from four to twelve feet above the 
ground, but it is impossible to say what the average height may be 
in this country where trees two hundred feet tall are the rule 
rather than the exception. No lining is used in the nests, unless 
this term might be applied to a goodly supply of feathers belonging 
to the Steller’s Jay, Northwestern Flicker, ete., which gradually 
accumulate as incubation advances. 
The nesting season commences in April and it is probable that 
the 15th might be set as an average date for fresh eggs. However, 
as is the custom with nearly all of our northwestern birds, the 
date for first layings is subject to great variation. One pair, 
from which I took a set of three eggs each season for two years, 
laid their eggs during the first week of May, but I believe this to 
be an unusually late date for this bird. I think that complete 
sets will usually be found to contain three eggs, although two are 
nearly as often the full number. In only one instance have I 
seen as many as four. In color they are pure white and some- 
