Sept, 1911 
SOME COLORADO HORXia) OWL NOTILS 
1.^,5 
that it is ill about the same plumage as the bird on tlie left, and therefore presumably 
about the same age, forty-one to forty-five days. I had no data my.self for making 
any sort of a guess at it. 
The 3"oungster seemed to thrive fairly well in captivit.v. We picked out a 
tough old rooster and killed it for his benefit. The feeding was more or less 
simple. While the bird would sometimes take pieces which were offered him, I 
found ill the end that the cpiickest method was to take him in hand, wearing gloves 
as a most nece.ssary precaution against those sharp claws which he showed a perfect 
willingness, not to say anxiety, to test on one, and forcing open the bill, poke pieces of 
chicken down his throat until I thought he had a sufficiency for the time being. 
And I want to assure my readers that none of that chicken was wasted except the 
feathers, head, and legs. Everything else went down that bird’s throat. Pieces 
of neck a couple of inches long were choice morsels. I was there until the thirteenth 
of May, it being the tenth when we first fed the bird, but duringthat time no pellets 
were cast up in the cage, which I thought rather strange as so many bones had iieen 
fed to it. 
After I went away my friend kept the owl until it was well grown, and it finally 
escaped, but apparently hung around the neighborhood, and was shot while steal- 
ing chickens at a place close b_y. I suppose we were to blame for its having acquired 
a taste for the birds, and hence for its untimely end. 
I rigged up a perch, and occasionally took the bird out to photograph and 
study. The following I cop\" from mj' notes made at the time. “It stands about 
twelve inches high. The body plumage is mosth^ down, but the wing and tail 
feathers are well grown, and about half out of their sheaths. The ear tufts usually 
stand up about one-half inch but sometimes three-quarters of an inch. The feet and 
legs are thickly covered with a yellowish or light buff\^ down. The whole of the body 
down, both above and below, is barred similar to the adult, and is fully two inches 
thick on the breast. This down is a light 3^ellowisIi brown, but light gray on the 
tips. The wing coverts are brownish yellow, with dark, nearly black, bars a 
quarter of an inch wide. The primaries and secondaries are as dark as the bars of 
the coverts, with .still darker bars. The tail similar. The face markings and 
feathers are just beginning to show. ’ ’ No material change took place during the 
few days I had the bird under observation, nor did it become especially tame. 
In 1902 I was in that region again, but did not sta3" at Paonia, but several 
miles away. i\pril 4 I made a trip to the nest site, and found a fresh eggshell at 
the foot of the cliff, but had no time for, nor wa3^ of investigating just then; how- 
ever, I was glad to see this indication that the nest was occupied. Several days 
after, on the thirteenth, I was able to make another visit, seeing an adult at the 
nest as we came to it, but it flew awa3" when I started down over the bluff on the 
rope. Even the post we had used the year before was still there. \'erv kind of 
that ranchmaii to leave it for me. 
I found three young in the nest, the largest neai'E' as large as a domestic 
pigeon, the smallest about two-thirds the size of the largest. Possibly it was 
hatched on the fourth, the da3" I found the shell below the nest. This smallest 
bird was covered with down e.xclusively, but the other two had their pin feathers 
started. They snapped their bills at me a little, but made no other hostile demon- 
stration. Photograph3^ was rather difficult work, for I had to stand near the 
crumbling edge of the shelf, and hang onto the rope for a support in case of the 
ground giving w'ay, and manipulate the camera at the same time. 
Such nest construction as there was consisted of a sort of platform at the back 
of the cavity, in such a position that the sun would not beat on it until late in the 
