SAW-WHET OWL. 161 



The eggs are generally deposited in the hollows of trees, the de- 

 serted burrows of woodpeckers being the favorite place, though open 

 nests are sometimes used for the purpose. Mr. W. Perham, of Tyngs- 

 boro, Mass., was very successful in inducing this Owl to build in nests 

 which he put up in different parts of the forest. These 'nests' were 

 sections of hollow limbs closed at the ends, with an entrance hole made 

 in the side. As a rule this species uses no other nesting material than 

 the rotten chips found in the cavities, or such accidental material as 

 has been dragged in by squirrels or mice. 



The number of eggs is from four to seven, and it would seem from 

 Mr. Egbert Bagg's experience in central New York, that the larger 

 number is more common. They are usually deposited by the first week 

 In April, at which time fuU sets are found. A set of eggs taken by Mr. 

 Egbert Bagg on April 7, 1886, in Oneida County, IST. Y., were in differ- 

 ent stages of incubation, proving that the female had remained on the 

 eggs from the time the first egg Avas deposited. Unlike the little 

 Screech Owl, this species is very ajit to leave the nesting cavity when 

 the tree is shaken or jarred during the ascent to it. 



The species is not migratory, but is more or less of an irregular wan- 

 derer in its search for food during the fall and winter. It may be quite 

 common in a locality and then not be seen again for several years. 

 It is nocturnal, seldom moving about iy the daytime, but passing the time 

 in sleeping in some dark retreat. So soundly does it sleep tliat often 

 times it may be captured alive, as in the following case cited by Mr. 

 Ridgway: "But a single individual of this pretty little Owl was met 

 with ; this one was ciiptured alive by Mr. O. L. Palmer, of our party, 

 who found it asleep and placed his hat over it. It was perched on the 

 edge of an old Eobiu's nest, in a dense willow thicket near camp.'' 

 (U. S. Geol. Explor. of the Fortieth Parallel, King, vol. iv, 1877, p. 572.) 



During the day it frequents the thick evergreen woods, though some- 

 times it is found in comparatively open groves, but always in dense 

 trees. Mr. W. E. D. Scott found it common in scattered cedar groves 

 at Princeton, N. J ., in December 1878, when he obtained seventeen 

 specimens in two days; while in January, which was colder, he met 

 with more in hollow trees. (Bull. Nuttall Ornith. Club, vol. iv., 1879, 

 p. 85.) In the Dead River region, Maine, on January 7, Mr. F. H. Car- 

 penter found three sitting close together on a joist on a grain shed of 

 a lumber camp. (Ornithologist and Oologist, vol. xi, 1886, p. 177). 



The mortality which sometimes occurs among this species in winter 

 is difficult to account for. Specimens which show no signs of violence, 

 though somewhat emaciated, are found on barn floors, under trees, or 

 along fences. That cold has anything to do with killing this hardy 

 little Owl is not to be supposed, for such accidents occur more often 

 towards the southern limit of its range; and why should it starve in 

 localities where food abounds, as about Washington, where most of the 

 specimens secured have been picked up dead ? 

 7626— No. 3 11 



