122 
THE NIDOLOGIST 
the Hawk I took one of the Flicker’s.* 
About ten feet up, in the same limb, was a 
hole occupied by a pair of Red-headed Wood- 
peckers. 
The same day, from a natural cavity in a 
chestnut tree, about twenty-five feet up, I 
took a set of five eggs, one about half set, 
four rotten. 
They become very much attached to one 
place, and resort to the same tree from year 
to year, even though they be repeatedly 
robbed of eggs or young. After being rob- 
bed they remain about the tree for a long 
time, and occasionally deposit a second 
clutch. 
As a rule no nesting material is used, 
although they are said to sometimes part- 
ially fill up the hole with dead leaves and 
grass. 
Pandion haliaetus carolinensis: —Am.Osprey. 
The Fish Hawk 1s a common summer 
resident along our sea coast and about the 
larger rivers and Chesapeake Bay, arriving 
about the middle of March and leaving in 
September or October. 
Their nests, which are rebuilt and used 
from year to year, are generally placed near 
the top of a large tree, although at times 
they build quite low and ina small tree. 
The eggs are generally three in number, 
sometimes only two,and scarcely ever four. 
They feed almost exclusively upon fish, 
which they take alive. 
Strix pratincola:—Am,. Barn Owl; Monkey- 
faced Owl. 
A rare resident; more abundant in 1893 
than in any other year of which I have 
record. 
It sometimes breeds; Mr. A. Wolle took 
five young birds from a hollow tree in Anne 
Arundel county in May 1893. For several 
years a pair have been breeding in one of 
the towers of the Smithsonian Institution, 
at Washington, D.C. 
May 20, 1893, 
the Purple Grackle in Kent county, I flush- 
ed one of these Owls from the top of an 
apple tree where it was perched within a 
few feet of a Grackle’s nest. As soon as it 
flew it was immediately set upon about a 
dozen of Grackles, and was followed by 
them for some distance until I lost sight of 
them in a willow swamp. 
heir tood is principally rats and mice, 
of which they destroy immense numbers. 
*This was rotten and the Flick ers had a new nest 
in a stub about 50 feet off. 
whilst hunting nests of 
Asio wilsonianus:—Long-eared Owl. 
Resident, but not at all common. In 
nesting it is said to use the old nest of a 
Crow, which it patches up to suit, then 
deposits from four to six eggs. 
In November 1892, a party of hunters in 
Howard county came across a flock of about 
ten individuals, which were flushed from 
the ground in a sedge field. (Reported as 
wilsonianus but may have been accipetrinus. 
Asio accipitrinus:—Short-eared Owl. 
This one of our winter visitors. ‘The 
only time I have personally met with it 
was April 1, 1892, when I flushed and 
shota & as it flew from a cedar tree. 
During the day the commonly remain on 
the ground in the tall grass of the marshes, 
and are sometimes shot by sportsmen hunt- 
ing Snipe. 
Syrnium nebulosum:—Barred Owl; 
Owl; Booby Owl. 
Resident; and next to the Screech Owl 
our most abundant species. It is commonly 
supposed to be very destructive to poultry, 
but from examination of stomachs made by 
the U.S. Agricultural Department at Wash- 
ington, D.C., it has been shown that this 
supposition is an error, although they do 
occasionally visit the barnyard. 
They are partial to heavily timbered land, 
during the mating season are very noisy. 
Frequently, in March, I have heard them 
hooting during the day, especially in cloudy 
weather. 
In nesting they generally choose a hollow 
tree. not using the open nest so often as 
the Great Horned Owl, although they do 
occasionally make use of one. ‘The eggs, 
two, sometimes three, are deposited during 
the latter part of March. 
May 5, 1894,I flushed a Barred Owl from 
a hollow about fifteen feet up in a large 
chestnut tree, and climbing to it I found 
two young, seemingly about three weeks 
old. This tree was on the edge of a public 
road and was almost grazed by the wheels 
of passing vehicles. March 16, 1895, in 
same nest I found one fresh egg, but one 
week later when I went after the set I found 
the egg was broken, and as the bird was 
missing I think she must have been found 
and killed by ’coon hunters. 
In Somerset county this species is com- 
monly supposed to be the ? ‘‘Booby Owl” 
(Great Horned Owl). 
Nyctala acadica:—Saw-whet Owl. 
This, our smallest Owl, is not often me 
Hoot 
