7 2 A Pair of Long-Eared Owls. [Sess. 



sunset, calling for a longer or shorter interval, and then career- 

 ing out of the wood with repeated wing-claps. On February 

 19 this was still their procedure, but on February 26 there 

 was a new development, demanding detailed treatment. Febru- 

 ary 2 6 finished iu a fine quiet evening, and here, it may be 

 noted, the Owls showed themselves strangely sensitive to 

 weather conditions ; on stormy evenings the awakening display 

 was invariably cut short, and, apart from the increased difficulty 

 of observation, there was small profit in watching them upon 

 such occasions. About half an hour after sunset the male 

 began to call, and a few minutes later the female joined in. 

 For ten minutes we listened to successive whees and oo's, then 

 the female took wing, and, clapping slightly as she flew, perched 

 on a tree close to the position of the male. Almost immedi- 

 ately the latter flew from his roosting-perch, clapping loudly, 

 and settled on the ground out of sight. Here he was silent, 

 but the female continued to call for some little time from her 

 new perch. Then she took wing again, first following the 

 direction of the male, then circling round with clapping wings 

 in a more pronounced fashion than usual. In the dim light 

 she was little more than a phantom, and it was guess-work 

 rather than a clear perception which told us that she had 

 ceased to fly and was perched some distance away. We crept 

 forward cautiously with a great premonition in our minds, and 

 found her, just as we had expected, perched beside the nest 

 built by a pair of Carrion Crows in the previous year — (Plate 

 I.). Here she remained for some minutes calling vigor- 

 ously, while the male answered from some invisible spot 

 behind us. Then she hopped into the Crow's nest and became 

 invisible, but faint whees still reached and informed us of her 

 whereabouts. After a few minutes — sufficient time maybe for 

 an inspection — she came forth and flew off towards the north- 

 west, followed immediately by the male, and the evening's 

 observations terminated. 



This was the first indication of a nest interest which we had 

 seen, but an unfortunate hiatus in our observations prior to this 

 event prevents us from knowing whether it was the first visit 

 which either of the Owls had paid to this nest. It may at 

 least be noted that upon this occasion only the female visited 

 the nest, in striking contrast, as I shall make evident, to their 



