82 A Pair of Long-Eared Owls. [Sess. 



2, 1910, when two eggs had been laid, she deserted the nest 

 for some time but did not leave the wood. Once the full 

 clutch had been laid, however, she was never seen voluntarily 

 to quit the nest until the young were hatched. During the 

 day we could see the edge of her tail and the tips of her ear- 

 tufts appearing over the rim of the nest, giving no sign of 

 life, but in the evening we frequently saw her rouse herself 

 in the nest, stretch her wings, and alter her position. The 

 work of providing for her apparently devolved entirely upon 

 the male, but we had very little evidence of him actually 

 doing so. 



As a sample of the conduct of the two birds under the new 

 conditions, you may take the little we saw on March 30, 

 1911. The male began to utter the oo note at seven minutes 

 past sunset, and soon afterwards the female answered him 

 from the nest with a very low, barely audible note which 

 sounded like the oo of the male. Twenty minutes later the 

 male left his tree, sailing out of the wood on outstretched 

 motionless wings to the north-east. For fifteen minutes 

 nothing happened, then we were suddenly startled by a loud 

 repeated utterance — coo-coo-coo — from the nest, and at the 

 same moment there was the sound of a bird settling on a tree 

 behind us. It was too dark to see this bird, but we have no 

 doubt it was the male. By this time it was also too dark to 

 see the nest, and so, whether he ultimately went to the 

 female or not we cannot state. The coo note, with its strong 

 resemblance to the first note of a Wood-pigeon's song, was an 

 innovation, but its utterance was patently inspired by the 

 return of the male, and had we not been in the wood we 

 believe the latter would have gone straight to the nest. Our 

 presence affected him — affected him as it had not done 

 previously. With the laying of the eggs the nest had 

 assumed a new aspect, a new place, as it were, in his mind, 

 bringing a new wariness, a new timidity, into his dealings 

 with it. So long as the nest was merely the scene of his 

 nuptial antics, the presence of a human or two was of scant 

 importance, but now that it contained his potential offspring- 

 extreme caution was necessary. Formerly a lover, he was 

 now a parent, with a parent's responsibilities. 



And this change in the male's mental attitude was manifest 



