330 



LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



three-fourths of the nests found by me occupied by these Owls were those of 

 the Crow. Only a very few were evidently built by the birds themselves. 

 One such found near Camp Harney, Oregon, on April 4, 1877, was placed in 

 a thick bush of dry willows about 10 feet from the ground. This was tol- 

 erablv well built, composed externally of small sticks and sprigs of willows 

 and aspens. Some of the latter had been peeled by beavers, which were com- 

 mon in the vicinity, and they were still green and pliable; these fresh looking 

 sticks drew my attention to the nest, which 1 mistook for that of a Raven or 

 Crow. The inner cup was about f> inches deep and lined with dry grasses and 

 feathers; it contained four fresh eggs. An occasional pair where Magpies are 

 plentiful will now and then use one of their nests, and natural cavities in dead 

 trees are also sometimes used. T n mountainous regions they are said to nest 

 occasionally in cliffs. Most of the nests found by me were placed in rather 

 open situations, in small willow thickets along some stream, or in an isolated 

 clamp in a swampy meadow, or on some hillside near a spring, but usually 

 not far distant from other thickets. The most exposed nest I ever saw was 

 found on April 24, 1877, near Cam]) Hamey, and it contained six eggs on the 

 point of hatching. It was evidently an old Hawk's nest most likely Swain- 

 son's Hawk placed in a small and very open scraggy juniper bush not over 

 6 feet from the ground; this bush stood entirely by itself and was quite a 

 prominent mark on the point of an extensive sagebrush-covered table-land. 

 It grew near the edge of the rim rock forming a perpendicular cliff, and 

 there were no other trees or bushes of any size within a mile of it. This 

 nest was in plain view from all sides and could be seen several hundred 

 vards away. 



These owls seem certainly more sociable and peaceably disposed toward 

 each other than Raptores in general, as I have more than once found as 

 many as three pairs nesting within a narrow strip of bushes not more than 

 100 yards in length and bordering a small creek. On another occasion I found 

 a pair of Long-eared owls occupying a cavity in an old cottonwood stump 

 not over 12 feet high; a Red-shafted Flicker had that season excavated a 

 burrow directly over that of the Owl's and the two entrance holes, although 

 on different sides of the stump, were not more than 2 feet apart. The birds 

 seemed to live in perfect harmony with each other. 



I believe these Owls are constant residents wherever found, although 

 tljey are not as often seen in winter as during the remainder of the year, 

 and they may migrate to a certain extent in severe seasons. Mr. Julius 

 Hurter, of St. Louis, Missouri, informs me that on .January 30, 1873, a flock 

 ot aboul thirty of these birds were seen by him resting- in one tree in a 

 swampy place in the Mississippi bottom, and that they remained in the 

 neighborhood for several days. 



On Fein-nary 23, 1872, I saw about fifteen of these birds sitting close 

 together on a small mesqnite tree in a dense thicket in the Rillitto Creek 

 bottom, near Tneson, Arizona. The fact that occasionally such numbers are 

 seen together looks as if they did at times migrate. 



