THE OOLOGIST. 



329 



I am informed Unit Mr. E. W. Durfee 

 of Houghton has taken the eggs from 



the same nest for three years; the earli- 

 est date being March 14th and the lat- 

 est April 4th. Mr. Durfee says the eggs 

 are three in number, white and spheri- 

 cal. 



The eggs are usually deposited in a 

 hollow in a tree, but Oliver Davie says 

 that an old hawk's or crow's nest is also 

 occupied, and this is not unlikely when 

 we compare the nesting- habits of the 

 Great Horned Owl. which are well stud- 

 ied hereabouts, and known to vary in 

 choice of sile. 



In 1879, April 12th. my lamented 

 friend, Charles W. Gunu of Grand Rap- 

 ids, found a pair of Owls nesting in a 

 hollow limb of a sycamore tree. Mr. 

 Benjamin F. Syke, of Kalamazoo, Mich- 

 igan, has twice found this owl breeding 

 in Southern Michigan. Joseph West- 

 nedge, Frank Judson and Leon Reed 

 have also found nests in Kalamazoo or 

 adjoiuiug counties. All of these nest- 

 ing sites were hollows and generally 

 well up from the ground. 



The eggs of the "Round-head," or 

 "Wood- Owl" are two or three in num- 

 ber. Some authorities say four, but 

 this number is not reached in the Pen- 

 insular State. In appearance, they 

 may be said to be good smaller copies 

 of the egg; reat Horned Owl. 



The notes of this owl a pleas- 



ing to me. Hollow and reverberating 

 like the notes of the larger owls, they 

 still are quite dissimilar from the songs 

 or cries of all nocturnal birds. It is 

 difficult to describe, and I " recia- 

 ted ought to be heard. To rue it is very 

 pleasing, and the cries of a Barred Owl 

 about the camp always lend a marked 

 attraction to this free out-door life. 



On April 9, 1873, I secured a tine live 

 specimen which I kept as a pet. At 

 first it was very savage and would 

 throw itself on its back when touched, 

 •defending itself with its claws. After 

 some weeks it improved in manners 



and would take strips of meat from my 

 lingers. It finally accepted caresses 

 and seemed to like to he stroked, but it 

 always mopped its hill with a loud noise 

 whenewer I approached. I owned it 

 for a year, during which time it flew 

 about the hay loft of the barn: At 

 times it was sadly neglected, but I am 

 satisfied that it was about able to take 

 care of itself, at least for a time, for I 

 found the boluses of hair and bones 

 which it at times threw up from its 

 crop and which upon examination 

 proved to be the remains of mice which 

 were quite plenty about the barn. This 

 owl would eat fish, flesh or fowl with 

 equal avidity ami would always swal- 

 low birds, mammals or fish entire il 

 sible. Never unwilling to accept and 

 swallow r food if of proper dimensions, 

 he would never in my presence toucn 

 or tear to pieces a chunk of meat but 

 would patiently wait until he was 

 alone. At last he escaped one luckles-s 

 (for him) Sunday morning and was 

 ruthlessly shot while the church bells 

 were ringing, by a man who thought 

 more of his hen-roost than he did of 

 holding the day sacred. 



This common owl is not rarely called, 

 the "barm owl" by the ignorant, and I 

 had specimens brought me and 

 thus wronj bified as this much 



rarer species. And I have no. doubt 

 that observations are sometimes incor- 

 orded confounding these two 

 owls. 



Great Gray Owl, Scotiapteryx cin- 

 erca (Gmel). This is a rare stra 

 from the far north and is very rarely 

 seen in the Lower Peninsula of our 

 state. Nearly all of the si omit 



this owl, and all of the older authorities 

 ignore it, with the exception of Knee- 

 land's Birds of Keweenaw Point. 1857. 

 Covert, 1878, Birds of Lower Peninsula 

 embraces this Owl. Mr. A. W. Boies 

 has found it in the Upper Peninsula. 

 Professor J. B. Steere embraces it in his 

 Migration of Michigan Birds. Mr. 



