io6 
allen’s naturalist’s library. 
M. Gocllewski, a well-known Siberian traveller and collector, 
speaks of one of these birds which became very tame in con- 
finement, and imitated the crowing of a cock, the howling of 
a dog, and the cries of other domestic animals. 
Nest — None. The eggs arc generally placed in a hollow 
tree, the holes of the Great Black Woodpecker being often 
used ; and Wolley, to whom we owe much of our knowledge of 
the breeding habits of the present species, obtained some eggs 
from the nest-boxes which are put by the inhabitants for the 
Golden-eyc Duck to breed in. These nesting-places are formed 
of pieces of logs, hollowed out and with a hole cut in the side. 
Ihe bird breeds early in May, even in its northern home, and 
eggs were taken by Wolley at the end of May and during 
Eggs.— From four to seven, and, Mr. Howard Saunders says, 
occasionally as many as ten. They are white, and vary in 
shape, some being rounder and some more elongated. Axis 
r3 inch ; diam., 1-05. ’ 
THE WHITE OWLS. FAMILY STRIGID/E. 
Apart from their peculiar and unmistakeable visage, the 
White Owls differ from all the other members of the Order 
Striges in two easily recognisable characters. One of these 
Middle toe of Strix flammea, to show the pectination of the claw. 
[From the Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum, vol. ii. p. 290.] 
consists in having the inner and middle toes of about equal 
length, while the middle toe has a pectinated or combdike 
edge on its inner aspect. 
