144 Brewster on the Breeding of the Aeadian Che I. 



had taken in during the winter. There were tour eggs on April 

 4, and as the number was not increased the following day, Mr. 

 Perham decided that the set was complete and accordingly took 

 the parent birds with their clutch. He writes me that he made 

 many unsuccessful attempts to catch the female on her eggs. 

 She invariably flew out when he began to climb the tree, and he 

 was at length obliged to shoot her. This behavior is strikingly 

 different from that of the Mottled Owl under similar circum- 

 stances, for the setting female of the latter species can always be 

 taken off her nest by the hand, and even when pulled out of the 

 hole rarely makes any attempt to escape. The male Saw-whet 

 was shot while sitting on a branch near the nesting-hole. 



So much for the particulars of the capture ; now a word as to 

 the specimens themselves. 



The eggs were sent to me unblown : the birds, in the flesh. 

 Had there been'anv reason to doubt the truth of Mr. Perham's 

 representations, this fact would have set the matter at rest. The 

 belly of the female was bare and wrinkled, showing that incuba- 

 tion had begun, but among her ovaries I found two eggs de- 

 veloped to the size of large buck-shot, which upon being cut 

 open yielded a small quantity of yellow yelk. From this I infer 

 that two more eggs would have been added to the set, perhaps, 

 as with the Cuckoos and some other birds, after those first laid 

 were well along towards hatching. The plumage of both male 

 and female is clear and unworn but their coloring is much paler 

 than in autumnal examples. 



The eggs were perfectly fresh. The yelk was yellow of about 

 the usual tint. The four specimens measured respectively 1.2 1 x 

 .9^; 1. 21 x .98; 1. 25 x. 96; 1.25 x. 97. They are nearly elliptical 

 in shape, one end being only slightly more pointed than the other. 

 The texture of the shell is rather rough and chalky in appearance 

 and there is not the slightest perceptible polish. Two of them 

 are much soiled with a brownish stain which easily washes oft", 

 and which was perhaps caused by contact with damp and decay- 

 ing vegetable matter in the nest ; the other two are pure, dead 

 white. The Smithsonian specimen is very much smaller than 

 the present ones, measuring, according to Dr. Brewer (B. N. A., 

 Vol. Ill, p. 47), only .95 x .SS. 



The above detailed facts may be regarded as furnishing the 

 first positive evidence we have of the breeding of this Owl in 



