4 Staten Island Association of Arts and Sciences 



On May 18, or in other words, about thirty-three days after 

 hatching, one young barred owl was sitting on a dead branch 

 outside the nest, but the other still remained inside, where some 

 feathers of a red screech owl gave evidence of the recent bill of 

 fare. The next day the venturesome owlet was discovered in a 

 tree about fifty feet away, though the timid one was still content 

 to stay at home. Since the day before, it had evidently been 

 fed on a blue jay, whose feathers lay in the nest. On June i I 

 again climbed the tree, but found the hole empty and without any 

 additional remains of prey. 



Meanwhile, my interest fully aroused, I had not been content 

 with observing a single nest of " hoot owls," but kept my eyes 

 and ears on the alert for more. On April 13 I was rewarded by 

 finding another nest in a large dead tree near Richmond Hill, 

 Staten Island ; but as an ascent of the tree presented great 

 difficulty I was content, for a time, to find a piece of white egg- 

 shell at its base. On April 14 the owl was again in its nest, and 

 two days later I climbed an adjoining tree, from which I could 

 see two fledgeling owls in the nest. On April 27 I made a des- 

 perate effort, got up the tree, and found, besides the young owls, 

 which seemed about three weeks old, an addled egg and a lot 

 of feathers of flickers, which appear to be a favorite article of 

 food with barred owls. On May 11, my last visit, I contented 

 myself with a view from the adjoining tree, and the growing 

 owls seemed to be progressing favorably. 



My third barred owls' nest was in a hole near the top of a 

 dead pin oak at Woodrow, which had been pointed out to me 

 by Mr. Isaac Wort during the preceding winter. As early as 

 March 3 I had seen a barred owl sitting at the entrance of it; 

 "but though we kicked the base of the tree several times dur- 

 ing April we could not scare out the bird. On April 27 

 I decided to risk climbing, and when I had proceeded about 

 fifteen feet upwards, out flew the crafty old owl. After a narrow 

 escape from falling I finally reached the nest, about a foot and 

 a half deep and containing one young owl, evidently about two 

 and a half weeks old, and the usual flicker feathers. On May 



