16 XoltYII A.MI:I!ICA"N' hiuds. 



moil than ntiy otlicr s|it'cioH. Hii mot with it mi San I'nhlo Itn)-, iiilialiitinj; 

 liiili's in the iM'i'pciiiliciiIai' clid's linrih'i'iii,!,' thn .soulli shmo. Il was also 

 i'oniid in tin; Klamath Maain, but not in j^qcat miinlitTs. 



Mr. .1. II. Clark fuuiKl the Hani Owl nesting, in May, in liftlos hnrrowcd 

 into till' liluir hank.s of the llio Frio, in 'IVxa.s. Tlicsci imrrows were iiuurlv 

 horizontal, with iv considorahlo e.xcavatiuii ni-ar the hack end, wiiun? tliti cLti^s 

 were di'po.sited. Tliesu were thrcu or lour in nunilicr, and ol' a dirty white. 

 The ])areiit liird allowed the ej;,;s to he handled without nianii'estin;; any 

 coneern. There wa.s no liniiiy; or nest whatever. J.ieutenant ('oueh found 

 them common on the Lower J!io flrande, but rare near Monterey, ^[exico. 

 They were rre(iuently met with liviiij,' in the sides ol' larji;e deep wells. 



J)r. Colics .speaks of it as a common resident s])ecies in Arizona. It was 

 one of the most abundant Owls of the Territory, and was not unrrc([uently 

 to be observed at midday. On one occasion he louud it preying uiion Black- 

 birds, in the middle of a small open reed swamp. 



It is not uncommon in the vicinity of \Va.shinj:;toii, and after the ])artial 

 destniction of the Smith.sonian lUiildiiii^- by fire, for one or two years a pair 

 nested in the top of the tower It is quite proliable that the comparative 

 rarity of the species in the Eastern States is owinj,' to their thon,y;litless 

 destruction, the result of a short-sighted and mistaken jncjiidice that drives 

 away one of our most u.seful l)ird.s, and one wliich rarely does any iiii,schief 

 amonjf domesticated birds, but is, on the contrary, most destructive to rats, 

 mice, and other mischievous and injurious vermin. 



Mr. Audubon mentions two of these birds which had been kept in con- 

 finement in Charleston, S. C, where their cries in the iiijfht never failed to 

 attract others of the s]iecie.s. He rej^ards them as altojiether crepu.scnlar in 

 habits, and states that when disturbed in broad dayliyht they always fly in 

 an irregular and l)ewildered manner. Mr. Audubon also states tiiat so far 

 as his observations go, they feed entirely on small (juadru])eds, as he has 

 never found the remains of any feathers or jiortious of birds in tiicir 

 stomachs or about their nests. In conlinement it imrtakes freely of any 

 kind of flesh. 



The Cuban race (\i\r. finritf((), also found in other West India island.s, is 

 hardly distinguishable from our own bird, and its habits may be presumed 

 to lie essentially the same. Mr. Gosse found the lireeding-place of the 

 Jamaica Owl at the bottom of a dee]! limestone pit, in the middle of 

 October; there was one young bird with several eggs. There was not the 

 least vestige of a nest ; the bird reposed on a mass of half-dige.sted hair min- 

 gled with bones. At a little distance were three eggs, at least six inches apart. 

 On the 12ili of the next mouth he found in the same jdace the old bird 

 sitting on four eggs, this time jdaced close together. There was still no nest. 

 The eggs were ad\iinced to\iards liatching, liut in very different degrees, 

 and an egg ready for dcpu.sition wa.s f(aind in tlie oviduct of the old bird. 



An egg of this Owl, taken in Louisiana by Dr. Trudeau, measured 1.69 



