30 



AMERICAN ORNITHOLOGY. 



Photo by N. W. Swayne. 



EGGS AND YOUNG OF BARN OWL. 



The Barn Owl lays one egg every clay or oftener every two days, so that a period 

 of perhaps two weeks elapses between the laying of the first and the last. As she 

 commences to incubate as soon as the first egg is laid, they hatch at different 

 periods and the young show great variations in size. 



beheld one of the finest specimens of bird architecture that it was ever 

 my good fortune to see. Perhaps the Larks thought by conceaHng 

 this nest well, they would avoid a repetition of the sad accident that 

 happened to the first, anyhow this one was very carefully hidden and 

 it would have been almost impossible for me to have found it if I hadn't 

 had the builder to aid me. It was a veritable little bower extending 

 back ten or twelve inches under the grass with only one doorway. At 

 the back end there reposed five handsome pinkish white eggs freely 

 speckled with reddish brown. 



On June 18th, when I looked in the nest it contained four little birds 

 and one egg. I didn't happen to be in this vicinity again till in July. 

 As I neared the nest two half grown Meadow Larks flew awkwardly 

 out of my path. I found the little bower in the first stages of decay. 

 It still sheltered one soiled egg. 



Edgar Boyer. 



