V °'i^06 iI1 ] Coolidge, Notes on the Screech Owl. 55 



light beside her; flashing of wings would follow, but the dark- 

 ness made more exact analysis of their movements impossible. 

 Occasionally he would fly out of sight. Returning from one of 

 these trips he lighted upon the rim of the cavity and touched his 

 bill to that of his mate, but whether to give her some tidbit, or 

 merely a greeting, the darkness kept secret. Hoping to make 

 the gray owl fly and to see by her silhouette if she had food in her 

 bill, I threw sticks at her, but instead of flying she retired for a few 

 minutes into her chamber. By the time the female flew, the 

 darkness made it difficult to see the owls at all. The male dis- 

 appeared at the same time, and although on the two evenings 

 on which I saw the love-making, March 29 and April 5, I waited 

 about ten minutes longer, nothing happened and the place seemed 

 deserted. Whether or not the red owl followed the gray one in 

 her hunting, and what took place at the tree later in the night 

 must be left to the imagination. 



On account of the exposed situation of the owl castle, I never 

 risked the disclosure of the secret to greedy eyes by climbing up 

 to examine its interior. However, as the gray owl was never 

 seen from the first week in April until the following autumn, and 

 as no young were ever seen at or near the tree, the nesting more 

 probably took place elsewhere, the tree under observation being 

 only the winter quarters of the female. The red owl was not 

 seen after the second week in April, except in 1903, when he 

 apparently lived alone at the tree until the last week in May. 



In the spring of 1904 no mate joined the gray owl at the tree. 

 It would be interesting to know whether she advertised herself 

 as a gay widow, or whether a mate found her in spite of her demure 

 ways, but notwithstanding frequent visits she was not seen after 

 the evening of March 24, 1904, and it is probable that the eyrie 

 is of the past. 



