THE OOLOGIST 



19 



The next set was also a bumper set. 

 This time it was a Barn Owl nest con- 

 taining seven eggs, incubation slight. 

 It was located in a 20-acre patch of 

 wood about two miles from Urbana in 

 Champaign County. While walking 

 thru this wood on the 4th of April I 

 noticed a stub in the top of a large 

 white oak tree that looked distinctly 

 owlly. As I started climbing the tree 

 an owl flew out and settled in a tree 

 a few hundred feet distant. On arriv- 

 ing at the stub, fifty-one feet up, I 

 found it to be merely a shell, open at 

 fhe top, and with a two inch layer of 

 pellets on the bottom of the cavity. 

 The seven eggs lay imbedded in these 

 pellets so that the tops of the eggs 

 and pellets were level. After lower- 

 ing the eggs and myself to the ground 

 I located the owl again and made sure 

 of its identity. The eggs were very 

 uniform in size and shape, and were 

 subsequently blown thru the smallest 

 sized drill-hole. I might add that the 

 pellets were also collected and were 

 dissected by a student of the Univer- 

 sity of Illinois at Urbana. 



The fourth nest was owned by a 

 Screech Owl. It was found with four 

 eggs on 6th of April. This nest was 

 located in the hollow limb of a maple 

 tree over the sidewalk in front of the 

 University of 111. Gymnasium. The 

 height above the walk was sixteen feet 

 and the cavity was fifteen inches deep. 

 The eggs were covered with a thick 

 coating of excreta. The female, of 

 the red phase, was lifted from the 

 eggs with a stick. 



The next nest was that of the Barred 

 Owl. It was found in some heavy 

 timber along Camp Creek in Piatt 

 County on April 9th. This nest, which 

 contained only one egg, was peculiar 

 in that it was located in the same 

 tree and just five feet away from a 

 Red-shouldered Hawk nest with four 

 eggs. (Nests described Wilson Bull- 

 etin Vol. 28, No. 3, page 15-106). 



The sixth was another Screech Owl 

 nest found the 25th of April when it 

 contained five downy young. This 

 nest was twenty-five feet up in a 

 cavity of an ash tree on the outskirts 

 of Urbana. Last year a pair of Spar- 

 row Hawks nested in the same cavity 

 and this year the hawks were again 

 present but did not go near their old 

 nesting stub. 



The next was an altogether new 

 nest, being that of the Long-eared 

 Owl. This was one located on May 

 1st in the forestry belonging to the 

 University. This small patch of tim- 

 ber is within the city limits of Urbana, 

 and has houses surrounding it on two 

 sides, a road on the third, and horti- 

 cultural plots on the remaining side. 

 All last winter it harbored a pair of 

 Long-eared Owls and one Saw-whet 

 Owl. The present nest was made of 

 sticks and leaves, placed thirty feet 

 up in a straggly tree. The sitting bird 

 did not flush until I was within a few 

 feet of the nest, and then she and the 

 male, which flew from some neighbor- 

 ing pines, flew about my head and 

 snapped their beaks in a threatening 

 manner. The nest contained four 

 newly hatched young and one egg in 

 the process of hatching. 



Another pair of these birds prob- 

 ably nested in a large cemetery about 

 one half mile from the forestry, for 

 later in May a pair of old birds ac- 

 companied by three young were 

 noticed sveral times in the pines in 

 the cemetery. These evergreens af- 

 forded shelter to four Short-eared, 

 two Long-eared, and Several Screech 

 Owls during the last few winters. 



The last owl nestt found this season 

 in the two counties was that of a 

 Screech Owl containing five bad eggs. 

 These were found on May 5th. I think 

 squirrels caused this abandonment, 

 for a pad of leaves and a few acorns 

 covered the eggs. Five feet abovc^ 



