i9i3" I 9 I 4-] A Pair of Long-Eared Owls. 75 



disappointed when, on March 6, she still exhibited signs of 

 wavering. Upon this evening the male flew into the nest 

 very much in his previous manner, but the female did not 

 seek to follow him. Instead, she roamed from one perch to 

 another and visited the honeysuckle — she had a strange 

 hankering after that honeysuckle — truly, the male might have 

 thought, a very indifferent bird. Eventually she perched on 

 a tree-top near the Crow's nest, and the male, apparently satis- 

 fied as to her intentions, flew off towards the north-west, 

 clapping his wings. Some time after he had disappeared, 

 the female changed her perch and entered the nest. She 

 remained there only two or three minutes and then flew off 

 in the same direction as the male. 



There was surely a truly feminine touch about that waiting 

 until the male was gone before she entered the nest, and 

 three nights later, on March 9, we had another illustration of 

 her human-like vagaries. Both birds took wing about the 

 same time, the male settling in a tree near the nest, the 

 female in a tree some distance away. A few minutes later 

 the female flew as if to join the male, but the latter 

 immediately anticipated her by flying into the nest. The 

 female, upset by this manoeuvre, flew round for a moment 

 and then perched on the edge of the nest. Shortly after, the 

 male departed, gliding through the trees in the graceful skim- 

 ming flight he sometimes adopted, to a pine not far distant. 

 Meanwhile the female hesitated on the edge of the nest. We 

 could see her head turning from side to side, in the direction 

 of the nest and in the direction of the male, doubt seeming to 

 divide the swift mind. Then she came to a decision and 

 hopped into the nest. Two minutes later the male flew 

 silently out of the Corner over the top of the young firs to 

 the east — a course we had never observed him take before. 

 After quarter of an hour in the nest the female betook herself 

 to the neighbourhood of the roosting trees. Here she could 

 be vaguely discerned flying from tree and tree. When flying 

 she clapped her wings, when perched she uttered the whee 

 note. Ten minutes or so passed, then she suddenly uttered 

 the whee note several times in rapid succession, and the next 

 moment the 00 note of the male announced that he had 

 returned. A little later we saw the male fly out of the wood 



