The Screech Owl 47 



excited inwardly. But the male owl is very much in earnest; 

 for a moment or two he puffs out his feathers, bows and utters 

 a soft scream, followed by a modified hiss that is full of ten- 

 der meaning, and then he nudges her with his wings. She 

 opens her eyes very wide and gives him a sidelong glance that 

 may be a hint, for, horrible to relate, from the depths of his 

 interior he instantly brings up a half-digested mou.se; and, 

 although she is as full of similar rodents and beetles as she 

 can comfortably hold, she opens her mouth and accepts the 

 fragrant gift with a murmur of satisfaction that speaks vol- 

 umes of love and thanks. When the dainty morsel has been 

 disposed of they caress each other tenderly for a moment or 

 two, then sit close together, while the process of assimilation 

 is perfected, and then they simultaneously fly away into the 

 moonlight on noiseless wing in search of further prey. 



With these owls nidification begins between the middle of 

 April and the first of May. Their favorite places for nesting 

 are the cavities of trees, old squirrel nests and outbuildings. 

 Strictly speaking, they do not build nests. If the nest is in a 

 cavity, the eggs are laid in the bottom of it on such rubbish 

 as naturally accumulates therein. The eggs, four or five of 

 which constitute a clutch, are deposited every two or three 

 days, and are pure white in color, usually oval or nearly globu- 

 lar in shape, and are moderately glossy. Incubation lasts about 

 three weeks. Mr. Lynds Jones says that "Both parents are 

 generally found near the nest, and not infrequently sitting on 

 the eggs at the same time. In a number of instances I have 

 taken the two from well incubated eggs, but have never flushed 

 both of them from a fresh set. Between the interval when 

 the first egg is laid and the set is completed, the male may be 

 found= in a hollow tree and cannot be flushed, while the female 

 watches the nest and flushes easily. When incubation begins 

 the male will flush readily for a time, the female, however, re- 

 maining. Later both birds must be dislodged by force. If the 

 cavity is large enough to. admit of it, both birds will cover 

 the eggs ; if, however, it is small, the female covers them and 

 the male either wedges himself down by her side or lies on 

 top of her, and sometimes finds a lodgment somewhere higher 

 up in the hole, which, however, is rarely the case." 



