Nesting of the Great Horned Owl. 
It seems a pi 6y that such a beautiful bird as 
our Great Horned Owl is becoming so rare, 
especially in and around our more populated 
districts, for we, as lovers of birds, feel it 
more, perhaps, than anyone else, but such is 
the fact, especially in this vicinity. I must 
confess there can be no harder temptation 
placed before a naturalist than to see one of 
these fine birds within gun-shot and not try to 
secure him, especially if one has no specimen 
already; but, on. the other hand, if we were 
better at resisting these temptations we should 
not witness the decrease of our birds so fast. 
Often have I heard my father tell how 
common the “ Hoot Owl,” as they were called, 
used to be around here, and in those days it 
was no uncommon thing to hear two or three 
of them answering each other from the differ- 
ent woods around, especially just before a 
severe storm. Those days are past and gone, 
however, never to return with us, I fear. 
To my personal knowledge there is but a 
single pair of these birds that breed in this 
locality, although there may be others who 
find them, but I have seen no records given. 
This pair is located about five miles from this 
city, and my first acquaintance with them 
was during the winter of 1887. 
I had often heard a near neighbor (who 
is quite a hunter) say that he had often seen 
these birds in a large swamp of hemlocks and 
mixed timber, not far from my old home, but 
l was not familiar with that locality, and 
therefore did not venture there alone, for I 
had always heard of it as a place in which one 
could get lost very easily; but finally I deter- 
mined to go there, so I made arrangements 
with a young fellow who was tolerably well 
acquainted with the woods to go with me to 
have a hunt for them. 
On March 15, 1887, we started on our first 
visit to see what could be found, and we had a 
long and hard hunt, but we got there at last, ! 
and secured two eggs, but it was a close call, 
for if we had been a few days later they would 
never have got into my cabinet. After a tedi- 
ous process, however, I managed to make 
good specimens of them. 
I visited the place during the following 
winter and hunted my best, but could not find 
the birds, and since that time .1 have not had 
the time to get there again until March 5, i 
1891, when we paid them another visit. This 
time the nest was in the open woods and was 
not so hard to find, but the bird was very shy. 
We could see her for a long distance, as she 
was sitting on the nest, but she left it before 
we could get up very close. This nest con- 
tained two eggs, and was a very odd set, one 
being of the usual size, the other much 
smaller. They measured: 2.32x1.86 and 
1.98x1.64. These were badly incubated but 
not nearly as bad as the first set. 
This year I determined to be there early 
enough if possible, so on February 18tli I gave 
the woods a good looking over, but could not 
with certainty locate the nest, as there were 
so many old Hawks’ and Crows’ nests around, 
but I saw unmistakable signs of the Owls, so 
I determined to try them again. On February 
27th I went the second time and was in luck. 
I saw the male fly from near the nest, and the 
female stuck close to her eggs, but after three 
or four good raps on the tree she flew off. 
This nest contained three eggs, which is the 
largest set yet taken by me. They were 
slightly incubated and measured 2.30x 1.88, 
2.23 x 1.88 and 2.21 x 1.84. 
The nests were very rudely built, and in 
this case not very substantial. It was a 
rickety affair, made of a heap of rubbish on a 
foundation of sti ;ks, with scarcely any hollow 
in them; and they are lined with strips of 
bark, grass and a few feathers from the parent 
bird. 
Two of the nests were placed in hemlock 
trees, the other in a chestnut, and they were 
from forty to fifty feet from the ground. It is 
a mystery to me how the bird got on and off 
of this last nest without rolling out the eggs, 
for it was so fallen over on one side that I did 
not dare to take out the eggs one at a time for 
fear the rest would roll out, but probably 
they know their own business much better 
than I did. H. W. IS. 
Bridgeport, Conn. 
Q.& O.Vol. 17, April 1892 p, §7 
1 rel’s. Can any one tell me what it is ?” 
early March we 
t Horned Owl, 
jt hope that she 
it of eggs, but 
r a nest of the 
ke, for we had 
jaround on our 
jad driven the 
lough the birds 
pie to find the 
m, when, after 
left again for ; 
e to hunt long 
j It was in a 
and on a limb 
tie body of the 
: nest. It was; 
pf clubbing or 
i get off. We 
lised my gun 
nest to start 
jet the other j 
jo expert with 
unharmed, so 
to her. Our 
llow to climb 
jertainly was 
jmpanion did 
p doing it, so 
Od in peace, 
now getting 
pbling along 
mbled-down 
je I put one 
len 
lis- 
My 
but 
el’s 
rlt, 
l’s, 
'he 
^lir- 
O.&O. IX. Jun.1884. p.% • 
