^°^ig(^^^] Bowmsn, Birds of Porto Rico. ^f^T^ 



graphs of the youngest owl. He has developed wonderfully since last 

 photographed. He drooped his wings and bristled like the others. June 

 12. Another of the owls died to-day. They do not seem to do well on 

 the meat of birds, and this is all I have had for them lately. June 13. 

 Gave my owls a feed of disabled cockroaches, which they seemed to 

 relish very much. Though they are active in daylight, when subjected 

 to lantern-light at night, they seem blinded and stupid. June 21. Found 

 one of my young owls dead this evening. 



The remaining owl died while I was at Mona, in August. The one 

 dying on June 21, had lived from May 16 until that time in confinement ; 

 the last one lived from May 27 until the middle of August. They occu- 

 pied a roomy cage on the roof, and had I been able to provide them with 

 a more insectivorous diet, I presume they would have lived longer. In the 

 case of the youngest, it was my purpose to photograph him each week 

 until full grown, but the loss of a box of negatives in the mail, and the 

 premature demise of my subject frustrated my plan. 



I vainly tried to get information as to the nesting of these owls from 

 the natives, and they assured me that seeing an owl, or as they called it a 

 ' mookera,' in the day time was an impossibility, yet I did repeatedly, 

 see them roosting in some sheltered spot, both in the coffee bushes and 

 in the trees above them. A female sitting in a tree over a grosbeak that 

 I shot, did not move until I saw and shot it; at this shot the male flew to 

 a near-by tree, where I also secured him. Their stomachs contained the 

 remains of beetles, many quite small, and a few cockroaches. This was 

 June 27, 1901. From the results of my study of them, I should be very 

 strongly inclined to think the coffee eating stories altogether unfounded, 

 and without doubt based on circumstantial evidence, as is so often the 

 case with the evil reports of birds. They doubtless eat harmful coleop- 

 tera, and as they seem to have no taste for bird-flesh, I should say that 

 they are a very desirable species and deserve protection. 



■ 43. Amazona vittata. Parrot. — Still fairly common in the wilder 

 mountain regions, but I was not fortunate enough to secure any. 



■ 44. Crotophaga ani. Ani. — Exceedingly abundant everywhere. I 

 searched vainly for a nest till finally, at Aguadilla, a boy brought five 

 eggs to sell me that I was at once sure belonged to this species. I secured 

 them and a promise of more. On August 13 he brought me twenty more, 

 all taken from one nest. I immediately persuaded him to take me to the 

 nest, and found it to be in a small tree about eight feet from the ground, 

 in a jungle of bushes and trees, just at the foot of one of the small bush- 

 grown conical hills that, near Aguadilla, rise from the level, cleared 

 pasture lands. The birds were still about the nest and noisy, and there 

 was no further doubt as to the identity of the eggs. 



The nest, built of fine twigs and dead leaves, was large, bulky, and 

 originally deeply cupped. Probably four or five females contributed to 

 this set, that being the usual custom. When a layer of four or five eggs 

 is laid a layer of dead leaves is deposited over them and a second layer of 



