i9i3" I 9 I 4-] A Pair of Long-Eared Owls. 73 



subsequent conduct in this matter. On the following day we 

 climbed to the old Crow nest and found it partially relined 

 with dry grass stems, mostly Phalaris arundinacea, which grew 

 abundantly under the trees of the Corner. The same evening 

 we were again in the Corner, but a heavy rain apparently 

 provided unfavourable conditions for a Long-eared Owl ' per- 

 formance.' After some preliminary calling both birds flew 

 straight out of the wood. 



Three nights later, on March 2, the weather was quiet, and 

 at dusk we took up our customary stance in the Corner. 

 Shortly after sunset, and earlier than usual, the male began to 

 call. There was no response from the female, and he became 

 silent. Ten minutes later both birds commenced calling. Then 

 the male took wing and perched on another tree. Shortly after- 

 wards the female left her perch and flew through the wood. The 

 male immediately danced attendance, and for a time resounding 

 wing-claps told us that both birds were on the wing. Then 

 the male settled on the ground, and a little later the female 

 flew into the honeysuckle girding the old oak. Some minutes 

 of very indefinite impressions passed, then we were aware that 

 the male had perched on a branch close over our heads. A 

 moment later he took wing and flew straight into the old Crow 

 nest, and immediately the female followed, perching on the very 

 edge of the nest and, probably, eyeing her mate inside it. The 

 latter, maybe uneasy under this scrutiny, remained there only 

 a few minutes. As soon as he had gone — we know not 

 where, as our eyes failed to follow him more than a few yards 

 — the female took his place, and in the nest she continued for 

 some time busy upon we know not what. Ultimately, and 

 when it was almost too dark to be certain of anything, she left 

 the nest, and, after some further calling and wing-clapping, 

 both birds appeared to depart from the wood towards the 

 north. 



Thus we saw the male visit the nest for the first time. That 

 he may have visited it before seems extremely probable — he 

 showed none of the hesitation which marked the first (to our 

 knowledge) visit of the female ; he flew straight into it with 

 the most purposeful directness. The female might be sup- 

 posed to be still vacillating; that excursion into the honey- 

 suckle showed a hankering after other sites, and in the light 



