Plate LIX. 



Fig. 3. SJRIX NEBULOSA-Barred Owl. 



The Barred Owl is nearly as common as the Great Horned Owl ; indeed, it is said in some sections 

 of the State to be even more numerous. 



It is a very hardy bird, is a permanent resident, and builds as early as the last week in February. 



LOCALITY: 



It inhabits retired woods, and nests in large trees, either among the branches or in a natural cavity. 

 Low bottom-lands heavily timbered furnish the usual nesting places, but not infrequently its home is met 

 with in small tracts of upland timber. 



POSITION : 



Sometimes the nest is situated in a horizontal or perpendicular crotch formed by several branches, 

 sometimes it is on a large limb, in the angle formed with the main trunk, and sometimes it is in a 

 hollow trunk or limb. The relative frequency of these positions it is impossible to more than conjecture. 

 But wherever the site may be it is generally from forty to sixty feet above the ground. 



MATERIALS: 



When a cavernous tree is chosen for the home, it is said that few if any materials are carried for 

 the nest, the eggs being laid on the soft decayed wood common to such places. When the nest is built 

 among the branches, rough sticks compose its foundation, and upon this is placed a superstructure of 

 weed-stems, grasses, rootlets, leaves, and similar materials, and within the slight cavity thus formed are 

 artlessly arranged as a lining a little soft grass, bits of weed-fibres, and perhaps a few feathers. The 

 nest resembles that of the Great Horned Owl or that of some of the larger Hawks. 



EGGS: 



The eggs are spheroidal, almost equally obtuse at each end. The shell is white, almost as granular, 

 and about as smooth and well-polished as an ordinary hen-egg. In long-diameter they measure from 1.87 

 to 2.04, and in short-diameter from 1.52 to 1.75. The common size is about 1.65 to 2.00. Two or three 

 eggs constitute a set. 



DIFFERENTIAL POINTS: 



The following species comprise all the Owls which I have been able to positively identify as breeding 

 in Ohio at the present time: Great Horned Owl, Barred Owl, Long-eared Owl, Short-eared Owl, and 

 Screech Owl. The Acadian Owl probably breeds in the northern counties, and the Barn Owl wherever 

 found. At Glendale, Ohio, two years ago, several Barn Owls were found in a cupola, and I have many 



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