202 LIFE-HISTORIES OF BIRDS 



able place cannot be found adjacent thereto. The height at 

 which the nest is placed is a matter of but little moment. 

 We have seen nests between forty and fifty feet high, and 

 again at an elevation of less than five feet. Where little 

 danger is apprehended, they are built low down ; but 

 where experience has shown the wisdom of nidificating 

 in lofty trees as a safety, such places are chiefly selected. 

 Like the Long-eared Owl, this bird does not always con- 

 struct its own nest, but will not hesitate to avail itself of the 

 last year's nest of the Common Crow, or that of a species of 

 Hawk. Occasionally, a new r ly constructed nest of the for- 

 mer has been occupied during the absence of its rightful 

 proprietor, and its possession maintained with a wilful perti- 

 nacity ; the owners thereof being finally compelled to aban- 

 don the contest and look elsewhere for a building-place. In 

 the temperate portions of Texas, they are said by hunters to 

 breed in hollow trees, close by the banks of streams. Although 

 we have never obtained nests in such places, but it is highly 

 probable that such an opportunity would not pass by unim- 

 proved, should it occur. In the winter, we have occasionally 

 observed individuals to emerge from hollow trees, but at such 

 immense heights, as to render access impossible. May it 

 not be that the same birds had occupied these cavities during 

 the breeding-period, and had raised a brood of young there- 

 in? Such comfortable and secure quarters once chosen. 

 would certainly not be abandoned without just cause. 

 Primitively, this species doubtless built its nest, as many of 

 its kin still do, in decayed tree-hollows. Such places have 

 doubtless been resigned, owing to the lack of suitable trees 

 in the immediate vicinity of feeding-grounds, consequent 

 upon the disappearance of the forests which formerly skirt- 

 ed their borders. As a dernier resort, they doubtless took 

 to building nests for themselves, or availing themselves of the 

 discarded nests of other species. The comparatively rude 

 fabric which they construct, gives countenance to this theory. 

 The nest is constructed, exteriorly, of rude sticks about 



