THE OOLOGIST. 



85 



seem to be a reasonably large cavity in 



an out of the way tree Yet (lie birds 

 are very sly about their nest which is 

 often quite hard to find. The very 

 roughness of the occupied cavity fre- 

 quently serves to draw away attention 

 from the object of search. 



A rap on the trunk' of the tree, 

 although it will generally bring out the 

 bird, is not to be depended upon as a 

 sure means of discovering the nest. 

 In ray experience, the bird will often 

 retain her seat until you have quite 

 reached the cavity. Again, she. will oc- 

 casionally hear your approach and silent- 

 ly slip from the nest before you are in 

 seeing ^distance of her. The two tiuest 

 sets of egg-; which I ever helped to take 

 were only discovered after elimhing to 

 cavities which had shown no signs of 

 being tenanted. In one of these cases 

 the bird had slipped away unnoticed; 

 in the other ease, she remained on the 

 nest until my friend had nearly climbed 

 to the cavity. What 1 consider one of 

 the best signs of the proximity of an 

 owl's nest is the presence of downy 

 feathers sticking to limbs and bushes 

 around a promising tree. Close in- 

 spection will frequently reveal small 

 feathers clinging to the edges of the 

 prospective cavity, which are almost a 

 sure sign of a feathered inhabitant. 



The nesting season of the Barred 

 Owl begins the last of February anil 

 continues until May. t The earliest eggs 

 to come under my personal notice were 

 a set of four nearly fresh, taken from a 

 large sycamore tree, on the twenty- 

 eighth of February, 1891, by Mr. O. K. 

 Williamsou ami myself. I may well 

 state here that Mr. Williamson and I 

 have studied bird life and collected 

 together for the two past seasons, and 

 have shared each others oblogieal 

 labors, pleasures and disappointments. 

 It is his experience as much as my own 

 which I am giving. 



The eggs of the Barred Owl are de- 

 posited in the cavity without any lining 



except a few feathers from the breast 

 of the mother bird. The female gener- 

 ally begins setting several days before 

 the first egg is laid and retains Iter seat, 

 perhaps relieved occasionally by her 

 mate, until the rapacious appetites of 

 the young require the combined labors 

 of the parent birds. 



When driven from her nest, the bird 

 keeps a close watch and returns as soon 

 as all is quiet. If hen's eggs have been 

 substituted in the meantime for her 

 own pearly beauties, the unsuspecting 

 bird adopts them as her own. Mr. 

 Williamson and I ouce replaced a set 

 of two with hen's eggs aud returned 

 more than a month later and found the 

 old bird patiently sitting on one de- 

 cayed egg. The other had probably 

 hatched, the young chick having either 

 fallen from the nest or starved from 

 lack of proper food. If one of an in- 

 completed set be taken, the bird 

 seldom, if ever returns to finish the 

 complement. Sets of two eggs of this 

 owl are most common, although one 

 frequently finds sets of three ant! rare- 

 ly one of four. The eggs vary consid- 

 erably in size, but can generally be 

 distinguished from those of other 

 species. A set of three in my collection 

 measure respective: 1.86x1.65,1.90 

 x 1.62, aud 1 90 x I 59. 



If unmolested the owls will occupy 

 the same cavity year after year. If 

 robbed of their first eggs, they always 

 make a second nest three weeks or a 

 month later. I have always found the 

 second set in a different tree from the 

 first. But if both sets are taken, the 

 birds generally return the next season 

 to the old tree. . 



At any rate, if not bothered by either 

 the shot-gun or too free use of the 

 woodsman's ax, a pair of owls will stay 

 in the same neighborhood for many 

 years, without any apparent thought 

 of emigrating from their native woods. 

 Walter 'J huitt. 

 Chanute. Kans. 



