124 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XV 
slits, and the bird did not appear to see anything. No. 5 was a little more thickly 
feathered, with eyes wide open. This bird showed fear of me and clicked his 
bill when I handled him. No. 6 was still farther developed, with the wing 
fpiills jirst beginning to imsheath at the tips. Nos. 7 and 8 were little dif- 
ferent from No. 6 save that there was less natal down adhering to the plumage. 
No. 9 was farther developed. The feathers of the back were unsheathed for 
half their length, but the wing-quills still only at the tips. The feathers of the 
facial disc were still tightly sheathed. The bill was rather light colored in the 
younger birds with a white spot on the front of the upper mandible, just above 
the tip. As they grew older the bill became darker, aufl the white spot dis- 
appeared, being entirely lacking in the three older birds. 
I banded all of these young birds, except no. i, with bands of the Ameri- 
can Bird Banding Association. No. i died when about eight days old, when still 
too young to band. I kept a record of the numbers of these bands, and was 
consequently able to tell which bird was which, whenever I found them after they 
had left the nest. On June 28, I found owl no. 2, then approximately 22 days 
old. This bird had all the feathers well out except the wing quills, and those of 
the facial disc. The wing quills were unsheathed for about half their length, 
while those of the facial disc were just beginning to unsheath. On July i, owl 
no. 6, then about 31 days old, had the facial disc well unsheathed and dull black 
in color, while the wing quills were unsheathed for about two-thirds of their 
length. This bird was still unable to fly. 
I kept as careful notes as possible on the character of the food brought these 
young birds. When I visited the nest in the mornings I usually found food near 
the nest, but in the evenings it was usually all, or nearly all, gone. On the 
morning of June ii there were four mice near the edge of the nest, three of them 
small rodents of the vole type, dark brown in color, with short tails, and the 
fourth a mouse of a light yellowish brown color, with white underparts and a 
long tail. Other mornings I found mice of these two kinds, and once I found 
the feathers, and part of one wing, of a McCown Longspur. On June 19, the 
day the last owl left the nest, I found him a few feet away, with several mice, 
and the hind-quarters of a young cottontail rabbit near him. It was evident that 
the parents did most, or all, of their hunting at night, gathering a large enough 
supply to last until the next evening. 
There were many ejected pellets near the nest, and in other places in the 
grass where the young owls remained after they had left the nest. These pellets 
always contained the fur and bones of small rodents, and I recognized nothing 
else in them. I believe that the young generally had one whole mouse at a 
meal, and swallowed it whole. On the evening of June ii I found owl no. 5 
ejecting a pellet. The bird lay on his side, with eyes closed, barely moving all 
the time that I was near the nest. The pellet was partly out of his throat. It 
was a full inch in diameter, and the part already ejected was about two inches 
long. I was not sure at the time that it was entirely natural for the bird to eject 
a pellet in this manner, and feared the bird might die, but a few days later I 
visited the nest again, and found this bird well and as lively as the rest. 
On the evening of June ii, the same day that I had measured the birds, I 
found the three oldest birds gone. I supposed for a time that some one had 
found the nest and taken them for pets, but later found that this was merely a 
part of the regular program in the life of young Short-eared Owls. On the 14th 
I again found the oldest remaining bird gone; and on the i6th I found this one 
in the brush about 20 feet from the nest, and still another one three or four feet 
