a 

June, 1886.] 

AND OOLOGIST. 85 

by such a contingent of crows that the poor owl’s 
life became a burden to her and she was forced 
to seek a quieter neighborhood. These avian 
troubles were in open nests. But when Bubo 
and Syrnium breed in cavities they can “hold the 
fort,” for no self-respecting Buteo will ever crawl 
into a hole. 

Nesting of the Golden Eagle. 

BY J. R. C., SAN BENITO CO., CALIFORNIA. 

On February 15th, 1886, I went to an old nest 
of the Golden Eagle, (Aquila chrysaetus cana- 
densis), and found that the birds had begun to fit 
it up with new material. Qn February 26th I 
made another trip to the nest, and found two eggs. 
The nest was in a solitary live oak tree, sur- 
rounded by wheat fields; and the tree had only 
been left standing because it grew on the side of a 
gulch. The birds had built on the south side of 
the tree, and the nest was composed of large 
sticks, one of which measured seven inches in cir- 
cumference. It was lined inside with straw stub- 
ble, green grass, and green twigs of trees with the 
leaves attached. It was six feet deep and five 
feet broad, and was built up nearly four feet from 
the bottom. It was just thirty-one feet from the 
ground, as I ascertained by means of a string. 
Both the eggs were perfectly fresh, and after 
preparing them I cooked the contents of one of 
them, as I wished to ascertain how Eagle’s eggs 
tasted. J found it rather rank, however, and 
only fit for starvation diet. 
When I approached the nest I saw no bird, but 
while I was under the nest the Eagle flew up and 
lit on the nest over my head. I waited until she 
flew off again, which she did (with a scream) in 
thirty-four minutes, and I think she deposited the 
second egg while I waited, for she did not see me, 
and I never saw her again after she left the nest. 
[The set of two eggs, above referred to, are at 
present in the cabinet of a gentleman in Phila- 
delphia, where they have been examined by the 
present writer. They are very~ handsomely 
marked specimens and quite spherical in form. 
No. 1 measures 2.86x2.21, and is of a whitish 
color, quite heavily marked all over the egg with 
spots and blotches of bright reddish brown. These 
become confluent near the smaller end, where they 
are very heavy, and form an indistinct circle. 
There is also a large blotch of reddish brown near 
the larger end, and the shell is quite rough. No. 
2 measures 2.89x2.29, thus being slightly larger 
than the other egg. The ground color is whitish, 
and is marked all over with small spots of bright 
reddish brown, which are thickest near the 
smaller end, but not confluent as in No. 1. The 
larger end is covered with light lilac markings, 
and the shell is rough, and slightly granulated. 
—Ep.] 

Notes on the Nesting of the Great 
Horned Owl. 

(Bubo virginianus.) 

BY THOMAS H. JACKSON, WEST CHESTER, PA. 

Within a few years this bird has become a rather 
scarce resident of this section of Eastern Pennsyl- 
vania. The destruction or thinning out of the 
larger tracts of timber, together with the increasing 
demand of this fine bird for the taxidermists’ art, 
have left but few pairs to breed in the vicinity. 
In a recent number of THe ORNITHOLOGIST AND 
Ob oetst I notice that a writer takes exception 
to the large number of eggs usually accredited in 
sets of the Raptores. In his experience with those 
of the Great Horned Owl I fully coincide. In 
thirteen nests of the bird that have come under 
personal notice, twelve contained two eggs or 
young, and only one contained three eggs. 
Upon one occasion I replaced the Owl’s eggs 
taken from a nest with those of the common hen, 
and upon visiting them at the expiration of three 
weeks, found that both the latter had hatched and 
had fallen from the nest, about twenty feet from 
the ground, and that the owls had deserted the 
locality. 
All the nests referred to above were placed in 
branches of trees, and were generally those of 
Crows or Hawks renovated or enlarged. Occa- 
sionally a hollow tree is used for this purpose. 
The Great: Horned Owls are liberal providers 
for their young. I have frequently found full 
grown rabbits lying in the nest beside the young, 
and scarcely a nest visited did not have a strong 
odor of the skunk, while bones and feathers were 
scattered around, attesting to the predaceous 
habits of the proprietors. 
The hooting of this owl in the lonesome re- 
cesses of the forest is not an attractive suund to 
the belated traveler who knows not the source 
whence it comes, but I have often listened with 
pleasure to their solemn signals as they answered 
each other from different points in the silent 
forest. The notes of the sexes are quite different. 
One of them (I cannot say which) utters deep de- 
liberate hootings, while the other answers in short 
quick tones very easily distinguished, and as I 
have always heard these notes in the vicinity of a 
nesting place, I have taken it for granted that they 
are distinguishing traits in the sexes. 
