Dec, 1883.] 



AND OOLOGIST. 



93 



Screech Owls Breeding in Con- 

 finement. 



June 4tb, 1881, I found in a hollow tree 

 in an orchard a family of Screech Owls, 

 consisting of an adult and four young. 

 The plumage of the old bird was red, that 

 of the young grayish brown. Carrying 

 my captives home I consigned them to an 

 old store room, and during the summer I 

 fed them exclusively on frogs, and it was 

 no small job to procure a sufficient quan- 

 tity. They seemed to prefer them to any 

 other food, which led me to believe that 

 they constituted no mean portion of their 

 regular fare when at liberty. 



During the Fall of that year I disposed 

 of the young, and at about the same time 

 I was presented with another adult of the 

 same species, also in the red plumage, by 

 a hiuiter who said he had found it in the 

 same orchard in which I had found mine. 



During the winter I secured the use of a 

 long closed shed, or hay barn, which I sep- 

 arated into three apartments by wire net- 

 ting. Into this building I introduced my 

 Owls — Barred, Great horned and Screech, 

 giving the A'cops the middle section. Noth- 

 ing unusual in their demeanor was noticed 

 during the season!* of 1882, except that 

 they did not 'seem to take any notice of 

 each other whatever. They would eat 

 meat refuse of any kind, if it was not salt, 

 and the barn being overrun with mice I 

 often found dead ones lying about, and no 

 doubt they caught many of them. 



About the first of February, 1883, their 

 actions towards each other began to change. 

 Instead of snapping at one another for a 

 bit of meat, I was quite surprised to see 

 one of them take a bit of food and carry 

 it to the other one that was perched on the 

 topmost beam,which in turn gravely received 

 it. Up to this time I had no idea as to the 

 sex of my birds, as both were alike, but 

 judging from the fact that the bird which 

 I had found was on the nest with young, 

 I took it for granted to be a female, and 

 latterly noticing the polite attentions paid 



to her by the other owl, I thought possibly 

 that it was a male. These attentions 

 seemed to increase. They would sit as 

 close together as possible, frequently 

 preening each other's feathers. The male 

 bird (I was siire of it l)y this time) would 

 take a piece of meat and fly up with it to 

 his companion, lay it down, and invite her 

 to take it by a series of hops and bows. 



All this I could observe by peeping 

 through a knot hole in a box caddy, where 

 I could come in from the outside. The 

 barn I kept dark as i^ossible. I could but 

 just see. This of course greatly facilitated 

 the owls in their movements. By the last 

 of March I noticed a heap of straws and 

 chaff on the top of a corner post of my 

 division line, well iinder the eaves, and 

 both owls sitting there. I did not disturb 

 them to examine as I had my hopes and 

 did not want to trouble my pets too much 

 at first. On the 13th of April I first no- 

 ticed a different demeanor on the part 

 of the male. He was more on the move, 

 continually snapping at the Great-horned, 

 and Barred Owls, if they happened to 

 come near the division netting, which in 

 their perambulations about their compart- 

 ment they frequently did, which kept the 

 Screech owl pretty well on the alert. 

 Thinking I might now with safety explore, 

 on the 15th I took a ladder and ascended 

 to the nest, where I was immensely grati- 

 fied to find a clutch of three eggs, the fe- 

 male showing no alarm, allowing me to 

 move he]- gently from the nest. 



Too much cannot be said in praise of 

 >Sco])s as a faithful husband and guardian. 

 Wishing to test him a little I took my 

 Long- eared Owl and put him into their 

 enclosui'e. tScops was sitting on his perch 

 trying to catch a few winks, but every 

 few seconds shooting a shy, sidelong 

 glance to see if Messrs. Bubo and >Strix 

 were acting properly. In one of these 

 glances he caught sight of Asia who was 

 at that moment sitting on the ground. 

 He streched out his neck and then — swift 



