STRIGID.K TIIK OWLS. 



69 



kinds of animal I'ond.anil was es]ii'rially fond of tisli and snaI\L'.s. It was n;- 

 niai'liablu for its cowardice, being always ridicnlously fearful of the smallest 

 dog, the neai' approacli of one always causing extravagant nianil'estations 

 of alarm. Ho was therefore led to conclude that it does not \>\vy upon 

 quaclru, I'ds larger than a hare, that it rarely is aide to seize small birds, and 

 that reptiles and tish form no inconsiderable portion of its food. The young 

 Owl in question assumed its full plumage in Novcuubcr, when less than 

 eight months old. It was of full size in all respects exce})t in the length 

 of its claw.s, which were hardly lialf the usual size. 



iNIr. T. II. Jackson, of West Chester, I'enn., lias met with fresh eggs of this 

 Owl, February i:?, '22, and 28, and has found young birds in their nests from 

 the 2d of March to the L'8th. 



]\Ir. ^\.udubf)n states that while the Great Horned Owl usually nests in 

 large hollows of decayed trees, he has twice found the eggs in the lissures 

 of rocks. In all these cases, little preparation had been made previous to 

 the laying of the eggs, the beil consisting of only a few grasses and 

 feathers. Wilson, who found them breeding in the swamps of New Jersey, 

 states that the nest was generally constructed in the fork of a tall tree, but 

 sometimes in a smaller tree. They begin to build towards the close of win- 

 ter, and, even in the Arctic regions. Sir John L'ichardson speaks of their 

 hatching their eggs as early as March. The shape of the egg is very nearly 

 exactly spherical, and its color is a dull white with a slightly yellowish 

 tinge. An egg formerly in the old I'eale's Museum of riuladelphia, taken 

 in Xew Jersey by Alexander Wilson the ornithologist, and bearing his 

 autograph upon its shell, measures 2.31 inches in length by 2.00 in breadth. 

 Another, obtained in the vicinity of Salem, Mass., measures 2.2") inches 

 in length by 1.88 in breadth. In the latter instance the nest was con- 

 structed on a tall and inaccessible tree in a somewhat exposed locality. 

 The female was shot on the nest, and, as she fell, she clutched one of the 

 eggs in a convulsive grasp, and lirought it in her chiws to the ground. An 

 egg >btained in Tamaulipas, ^lexico, on the Itio Grande, by Dr. Berlandier, 

 measures 2.18 inches in length by 1.81 in breadth. 



An egg from Wisconsin, taken by ^Ir. 15. F. Ctoss, may be considered 

 as about the average in size and color. It is nearly spherical, of a clear 

 bluish-white, and measures 2.30 by 2.00 inches. 



Olus witsonianiu. 



