274 Mr. E. Fountaine on the Nesting of a paw of Eagle Owls. 
the first was laid on the 20th; three young birds were hatched 
and all reared. 
The seventh nest was in February 1855 ; three eggs were 
laid, the first was laid on the 3rd; all the eggs were destroyed, 
the weather being so severe. Another nest was made of three 
eggs in the end of the month, but, the weather still being ex¬ 
ceedingly cold, that nest was also destroyed; no young ones 
were hatched that year. 
The eighth nest was in January 1856; three eggs were laid, 
the first was laid on the 12th; all the eggs were destroyed, the 
weather being very cold. Another nest was made in February; the 
first egg was laid on the 10th; three young birds were hatched 
and all reared. 
The ninth nest was in January 1857; two eggs were laid; the 
first was laid somewhere at the end of the month, but was de¬ 
stroyed, the weather being too cold. Another nest was made in 
February; it had two eggs; both birds were hatched and both 
reared. 
The tenth nest was in January 1858 ; two eggs were laid, and 
both destroyed, the weather being too cold. Another was made in 
February; it had two eggs; both birds were hatched and both 
reared. 
The eleventh nest was in February 1859; two eggs were laid, 
the first was laid on the 10th. I came home and found one bird 
dead in the egg, the other egg was rotten. Another nest was 
made in April; the first egg was laid on the 13th, another on 
the 17th, in which state I left them, and having since been 
absent from home, I cannot say any more at present. I have 
proved that many of the first nests were destroyed, not from the 
coldness of the weather, but because the young birds were egg- 
bound ; and when I was myself from home, there was no one 
who understood how to take them out of the shell. I could 
have saved the young bird this year if I had been at home. I 
found on one occasion a young bird egg-bound, which it took 
me three days to take from the shell. This bird lived and was 
brought up. 
Three pairs of the Owls which I brought up in confinement 
have at different times laid eggs and sat on them, but the eggs have 
