74 PROCEEDINGS S. I. ASs'n ARTS AND SCIEMCES. [Vol. I 



white eg-g-s on the mold in the bottom. Two of the eg-gfs were already 

 cracked preparatory to hatching-, and throug^h the hole in one of these 

 could be seen the youngf bird. The nest contained, besides the eggfs, a 

 dead flicker and a phoebe. 



On April 15th there were three young owls, covered with white 

 down, and having^ rather imperfect facial disks. They kept their eyes 

 shut during: my visit, althoug-h I have been told they could probably 

 open them at that agre. Once one of them snapped its bill in the 

 manner of adult owls. A piece of a ribbon snake, the bodies of a 

 robin and a flicker, a white tail feather like a junco's, and some brown 

 wing: feathers that may have come from a house sparrow, were found 

 in the nest. 



On April 22d the down on the young- owls showed dark bases, and 

 a few brown feathers had appeared on their backs and wingfs. Their 

 eyes remained shut a larg:e part of the time, but their bills snapped 

 frequently. The nest was littered with flicker feathers. On this visit 

 and that of April 15th the old owl did not leave the nest until the tree 

 was kicked, 



Althoug-h the little owls were not so white on April 29th, they were 

 still quite downy; the primary wing: quills were beg-inning; to appear, 

 and the spurious wings were well developed. Their eyes were now 

 open most of the time; the iris was dark brown, but the pupil, instead 

 of being perfectly black, had a peculiar cloudiness, somewhat like that 

 in the eye of an animal preserved in alcohol, although not so pronounced. 

 On this date neither of the old owls was seen to fly from the nest, but 

 one was afterward observed in the woods close by. A great many 

 flicker feathers, some fish scales, and a pellet containing the skull of a 

 star-nosed mole, Condylura cristata L,, and pieces of the shell of some 

 light-brown insect like a June-bug, lay in the nest. 



May 6th was a cloudy day with occasional showers, and many trees 

 by this time were well covered with leaves, so when I arrived beneath 

 the nest, at about 5 p. m., it was quite dark. No old owl flew out of 

 \t, but after I bad climbed up, both of them lit in neighboring trees and 

 stayed there, hooting and snapping their bills until I left. The young 

 owls had gjown larger, and more dark feathers had appeared, giving the 

 wing coverts,^ beneath which the secondaries were still concealed, a de- 

 ddedly barred appearance. The hind legs of a gray squirrel, some 

 wing feathers of a wood thrush, the body of a flicker, and a pellet con- 

 taining bird bones and feathers and some pieces of insect shells, showed 

 at 'least in part what they had been eating. 



On May 13th only one young bird remained in the nest, another sat 



