fail to give similar concern to the Phoebes who for unnim- 
bered years have nested in the cellar beneath the old barn. 
To the best of my knowledge and belief he never once 
molested any of these birds or their young but that cannot 
be said with equal confidence regarding his mate, a red 
Owl with a brood of young occupying a hollow oak trunk 
standing to the rear of, or scarce thirty yards from, the 
barn. Of her and their presence so near at hand I had no 
knowledge or even suspicion until May 26, when she flew low 
and close past me to the oak, carrying in her bill a hair¬ 
less, featherless flesh-colored object which looked very 
like an unfledged young Robin and not improbably was one. 
For upon follov/ing tack her line of flight I thought she 
must have come directly from an isolated apple tree and this 
was found to shelter a Robin's nest with the lining freshly 
torn out. Between this tree and the oak lies a perfectly 
open space fifty yards or more in width which the Owl was 
seen to cross. Yet it was then 9.30 A. M., with the sun 
shining brightly from a cloudless sky, Thc.t at such an hour 
and place she should have sought and captured prey of any 
kind seems rather surprising. 
On reaching the hollovir oak, she scarce checked her 
swift-gliding flight perceptibly before entering a round 
hole originally drilled by a Flicker and not since enlarged, 
being rimmed about by sound wood. It afforded so poor a 
