THE AMERICAN BARN OWL. 327 



using the same site, a dovecot in the barn. In southern Texas they begin 

 laying about the latter part of February or the beginning of March, and 

 correspondingly later northward. 



At Washington City, District of Columbia, where the Barn Owl is by no 

 means rare, they begin nesting from the last week in April to about the 10th 

 of May, and I know of at least three broods having been raised within the 

 city limits during the season of 1890. A pair of these Owls have been 

 nesting off and on for years in one of the towers of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion building, and occupied this site again during the spring of 1890, rear- 

 ing a family of seven young. As the supply of these birds in the zoological 

 collection now forming at the national capital consisted of but a single speci- 

 men, which had been kept in confinement there for some months, the young 

 above mentioned were taken from the nest before they were quite ready to fly 

 and placed in the cage with the one already there; she at once adopted the 

 orphans, and cared for and fed them as diligently as if they had been her own. 



The Barn Owl, strictly speaking, makes no nest. If occupying a natural 

 cavity of a tree the eggs are placed on the rubbish that may have accumulated 

 at the bottom; if in a bank, they are laid on the bare ground and among the 

 pellets of fur and small bones ejected by the parents. Frequently quite a lot of 

 such material is found in their burrows, the eggs lying on and among this 

 refuse. Incubation usually commences with the first egg laid, and lasts about 

 three weeks. The eggs are almost invariably found in different stages of devel- 

 opment and young may be found in the same nest with fresh eggs. Both sexes 

 assist in incubation, and the pair may be sometimes found sitting side by side, 

 each with a portion of the eggs under them. 



Besides the peevish scream already mentioned, they utter at times a feeble 

 querulous note like "quaek-quaek," or "aek-iiek," sounding somewhat like the 

 call of the Night Hawk (Chonleiles virginianus), frequently repeated, only not so 

 loud. Like most Owls, they snap their mandibles when 'disturbed, producing a 

 sort of clicking sound; at other times they make an unpleasant hissing noise 

 like that of escaping steam. During the daytime they are sleepy, sad looking 

 birds, but alert and active enough at night. 



In disposition they are amiable, seldom fighting each other, even when 

 feeding. Their quarry, if small, is firmly grasped with one foot; when larger, 

 like a good sized Norway rat, the bird stands upon and holds it firmly with 

 both feet, tearing it gradually to pieces, nearly always beginning with the head, 

 which appears to be the part most liked. 



The average number of eggs laid by this species is from five to seven, sel- 

 dom less. Larger sets containing from nine to eleven eggs are by no means 

 uncommon; it is questionable, however, if every egg in such large sets is 

 usually hatched. 



In shape the eggs are mostly ovate, a few are elliptical ovate, and a single 

 specimen before me is elongate ovate. They are pure dead white in color, the 

 shell is finely granulated, and they are decidedly more pointed than Owls' eggs 

 in general. 



