Probable Breeding of the Acadian Owl {Nyctale acadica) in 
Massachusetts. — The capture of this species in the adult state is by no 
means of rare occurrence in Massachusetts, but its presence is generally 
detected in the winter months. Of its breeding so far south in New Eng- 
land I think there has hitherto been no instance recorded. We are now 
able, however, to note the capture of three specimens in the plumage of 
the so-called “ albifrons.” The first was taken in Newton, Mass., on June 
28, 1876 ; and the second at Hingham, Mass., on July 5, 1876 ; the third 
was captured in one of the cells in the Penitentiary on Deer Island, Bos- 
ton Harbor, on the 8th of the same month, by an inmate of the prison. 
These localities being some ten or fifteen miles apart, it would seem hardly 
probable that these three Owls belonged to the same brood. On April 4, 
1877, a specimen in adult plumage was captured in the Penitentiary on 
Deer Island, where the above-mentioned immature specimen was taken. 1 
am indebted to Mr. Wm. J. Knowlton, of Boston, for the above facts, and 
from him I obtained one of the young specimens. — Ruthven Deane, 
Cambridge, Mass. 
Ball. N.O.O. 2, July, 1877. p, rV. 
Breeding of the Acadian Owl in Eastern Massachusetts. On 
June 4, 1880, I found a rtest'of the Acadian Owl ( Nyctale acadica), contain- 
ing five nearly fledged young, in a cedar tree, in the midst of a dense swamp 
in Braintree. The nest was an old nest of a Night Heron, repaired with 
a few leaves and feathers. From the size of the young birds it is evident 
that the eggs must have been laid about the end of April or very early in 
]yj a y._ The young birds were clad in a mottled plumage -gray intermixed 
with a sprinkling of red. Close to this nest of the Acadian Owl was 
found the nest of a Long-eared Owl. I have never heard before of Owls 
of different species nesting so near each other. — N. A. Francis, Brook- 
line, Mass. 
Bull. N, O.O. July, 1881. p, J S' 6 . 
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