THE GREAT HOKSTED OWL. 379 



Dr. William L. Ralph has kindly furnished me with the following infor- 

 mation on this species: "In the Indian River region of Florida, the Great 

 Horned Owl usually lives in the pine wood districts, breeding altogether in 

 these localities, and I have never known it to nest in other situations in any 

 part of this State that I am familiar with. At and in the vicinity of Mer- 

 ritt's Island, where I visited for several winters, these birds were so common 

 that eight of their nests were found in one season while looking for those of 

 the Bald Eagle, but, like most Florida birds, they are gradually decreasing. 



"In this region these Owls always deposit their eggs in the nests -of 

 the Bald Eagle, and while I think that these are usually, if not always first 

 deserted by the original owners, the natives say that the Owls drive the 

 , Eagles from and appropriate them for their own use. One of the reasons 

 why I think the nests taken by the Owls are deserted ones is because 

 nearly all those found occupied by these birds were situated rather near the 

 ground, and these are the ones the Eagles generally abandon first. These 

 nests are originally constructed of large sticks and limbs, lined with dead 

 grasses, palmetto leaves, flags, and weeds — usually with swamp grasses alone 

 — and after being taken by the Owls are always further thickly lined with 

 scales of pine bark, a material I have never found in any quantity in the 

 nests occupied by the Eagles. The amount of this bark in each nest seems 

 to be about the same, which would not likely be the case had it fallen into 

 the nests by chance, which may occasionally happen to a limited extent. In 

 addition to this bark there are always more or less feathers from the birds 

 in this second lining. Many birds of prey line their nests with leaves or bark 

 from resinous trees and they do this as a preventive remedy for parasites, with 

 which they are always more or less troubled. I have never heard or seen 

 this bird in the vicinity of San Mateo, Florida, and while they are common in 

 some parts of the State, they are entirely absent in other sections, although 

 apparently equally suitable. 



"These birds become very much attached to certain localities and seldom 

 wander far from them, even in cases of extreme persecution. As a usual 

 thing they will, should their nest be disturbed, take another in the imme- 

 diate vicinity, and after a season or two return again to the first one; but 

 in this locality I have known one of these Owls to lay a third set of eggs 

 in the same nest from which the first two had been successively taken. In 

 Florida this species usually commences . breeding in December. I have taken 

 eggs about one-third incubated December 17, and found nearly fresh ones 

 January 5. These are the earliest and the latest dates of which I have any 

 personal records, and have never found more than two eggs in a nest, and 

 about 60 per cent, of the sets consisted of a single egg. 



"The average measurement of a number of specimens taken by me in 

 Florida is 56.4 by 47.7 millimetres. One egg measured only 50.8 by 42.9 

 millimetres, and I am sure that it was from a first laying, as it was one of 

 the earliest taken. This egg was the only one in the nest, and partly incu- 



