1 9 1 3- 1 9 1 4.] A Pair of Long-Eared Owls. 8 1 



factor, to our minds, was the age of the female ; in 1910 she 

 was a young bird (the male, as I have suggested, was doubtless 

 an old bird, but his age does not affect the problem) ; in 1 9 1 1 

 she was a year older, with a relatively more rapid physiological 

 development. 



Whether the differences of habit in the two periods can be 

 accounted for on the same grounds is a more difficult question. 

 It is not unlikely that birds develop certain traits as they 

 grow older, and much of their conduct was doubtless indi- 

 vidualistic; but some of their antics, like the male's turning 

 in the nest with its remarkable resemblance to the courting 

 displays of other birds, were probably of a fundamental 

 character and common to every Long-eared Owl every season. 

 It may have been that this nest-visiting habit, so prominent 

 in 1911, was less highly developed in 1910, and that in spite 

 of our numerous vigils we missed it. It is possible that it 

 was performed during the night or in the early morning when 

 we were not there to see it. That they did visit the nest in 

 1910 before the eggs were laid is clearly proved by the fact 

 that the old Crow structure which they used was entirely 

 relined with grass and mould before the female began to sit. 

 In both seasons they used a nest built by Carrion Crows in 

 the preceding year — unmistakably the latest and most desir- 

 able residence the Corner afforded them each season. And in 

 this connection it is rather interesting to note that in 1912, 

 when there was no old Crow nest for them to use, the pair of 

 Long-eared Owls in the Corner nested in an old ramshackle 

 nest of a Pigeon in that honeysuckle-covered oak for which the 

 female of 1910 and 1911 had shown such a partiality. 



Nesting Period. 



Contrary to the practice of many birds, but in accordance 

 with the methods of most Owls, the female Long-eared Owl 

 began the period of incubation with the laying of the first 

 egg, but both in 1910 and 1911 there were indications of a 

 certain amount of relaxation during the first few days. On 

 March 28, 1911, for example, when three eggs had been laid, 

 she left the nest about forty minutes after sunset and flew 

 away westwards out of the wood. On the evening of May 



