The Number of Eggs Laid by the 
Great-Horned Owl. 
Notes on the Nesting of the Great 
Horned Owl. 
birds came quite near, snapping their bills and 
keeping up a continual hooting. Imagine my 
disappointment after this perilous climb to find 
the nest occupied by three downy young of dif- 
ferent sizes, and a half of a rabbit’s carcass ! 
March 24th. Found a family of three young 
Bubos, in the downy plumage, in a hollow, soft 
maple. This nest also contained a half-eaten 
rabbit. 
March 30th. Found two nests of young 
owls, one of three in a hollow elm, about four 
teen feet from the ground. The other of three 
also in a nest in a white oak forty or fifty feet 
high. Did not disturb any of those young. 
SUMMARY FOR THE SEASON. 
19 
young Owls, 12 
Number of eggs found, 
Total, 
sets containining 4 eggs, 
“ “ 3 “ 
“ nests built in trees, 8 
“ “ “ cavities, 5 
From this summary it would appear that the 
usual number of eggs laid is two or three ; but 
as the set of four shows the rule may be vari-' 1 
from, even in this latitude. 
[Dr. Strode’s experience as to the number of 
eggs laid by this bird agrees with that of col- 
lectors from all parts of the country, with the 
exception of Mr. Charles F. Morrison’s phe- 
nominal sets of six. Perhaps, however, the 
latter gentleman fed the birds on “Bird Invig- 
orator” to make them lay a large number of 
eggs! 
In one particular, however, Dr. Strode is in 
error. He found one egg (fresh) on March 8th 
and removed it. He tells us that he again vis- 
ited the same nest on March 20th, when he, 
found three more eggs, in which incubation 
had commenced. He then calls the four eggs 
one set! This is incorrect. The first egg 
having been removed, the birds commenced to 
lay a second set, which consisted of three.— J. 
& Au g. 1887 p.125 - /£ (, . 
Nesting of th^ Brow/-headed Nut- 
hatcl 
BY C. S. BRIMLEY,' RALEIGH, N. C. 
S \ 
Previous to this year my experience in regard 
to the nesting of this bird was very limited, a 
only one nest having come under my observa- t 
BY DR. W. S. STRODE, BERNADOTTE, ILL. 
After reading Charles F. Morrison’s article in 
the O. and O. for April, on the number of eggs I 
laid by the Great-horned Owl, it occurred to me 
that my experience with this interesting bird 
during this season of 1887, might be of interest 
to the readers of this journal, and also throw 
some light on this subject at least for the “Spun 
River Region” of Illinois. 
January 26th. Took first set of B. virginicm- 
us-, number of eggs two, incubation fresh. 
( Bubo virginianus.) 
BY THOMAS II. JACKSON, WEST CHESTER, PA. 
Within a few years this bird has become a rather 
scarce resident of this section of Eastern Pennsyl- 
vania. The destruction or thinning out of the 
laiger tracts oftimber, together with the increasing 
demand of this fine bird for the taxidermists’ art, 
have left but few pairs to breed in the vicinity. 
In a recent number of The Ornithologist and 
Oologist I notice that a writer takes exception 
to the large number of eggs usually accredited in 
sets of the Baptores. In his experience witli those 
of the Great Horned Owl I fully coincide. In 
thirteen nests of the bird that have come under 
personal notice, twelve contained two eggs or 
young, and only one contained three eggs. 
Upon one occasion I replaced the Owl’s eggs 
taken from a nest with those of the common hen, 
and upon visiting them at the expiration of three 
weeks, found that both the latter had hatched and 
had fallen from the nest, about twenty feet from 
the ground, and that the owls had deserted the 
locality. 
All the nests referred to above were placed in 
branches of trees, and were generally those of 
Crows or Hawks renovated or enlarged. Occa- 
sionally a-liollow tree is used for this purpose. 
The Great Horned Owls are liberal providers 
for their young. I have frequently found full 
grown rabbits lying in the nest beside the young, 
and scarcely a nest visited did not have a strong 
odor of the skunk, while bones and feathers were 
scattered around, attesting to the predaceous 
habits of the proprietors. 
The hooting of this owl in the lonesome re- 
cesses of the forest is not an attractive sound to 
the belated traveler who knows not the source 
whence it comes, but I have often listened witli 
pleasure to their solemn signals as they answered 
each other from different points in the silent 
forest. The notes of the sexes are quite different. 
One of them (I cannot say which) utters deep de- 
liberate bootings, while the other answers in short 
quick tones very easily distinguished, and as I 
have always heard these notes in the vicinity of a 
nesting place, I have taken it for granted that they 
I are distinguishing traits in the sexes. 
O.&o. XI.Jan.iB 864p ftj- 
