The Screech Owl 309 



erally in hollow trees, but not in the deep woods. 

 Little nesting material, other than rotten wood and 

 a few feathers, is used. The eggs, varying in number 

 from four to six, are white and nearly round, and 

 in our latitudes are usually deposited from the fifth 

 to the twentieth of April. 



The young, if taken a few days before they are 

 ready to leave the nest, may be tamed quite easily. 



In the latter part of June, 1904, I was informed 

 that a coachman had caught two little owls while 

 they were lazily dozing the morning hours away 

 on the top of a woodpile. I called upon the man, and 

 was informed that he had two owls, which he called 

 "cat-owls." They were in a box by the barn, and 

 he told me that three times a day they were fed bread 

 soaked in milk. The larger owl, he informed me, 

 was a male and the smaller one a female. I do not know 

 how he determined this, but he was very positive in 

 his statements concerning owls, telling me a great 

 deal about these birds: that they were very scarce; 

 that if, when about to set out on a journey an owl 

 "hooted," you were sure to have bad luck; also that if 

 for three nights in succession an owl was heard close 

 to a house and from the same tree, there would be 

 a death in the family within the next six months. To 

 all this astonishing information he added that he 



