A HISTORY OF CERTAIN GREAT II()RNED ()WLS 7 Jan., 1911 took some pains to find a possible nesting site. There appeared to be none, so I concluded that the owls were mere. ly transients. On February 6, 1906, just at nightfall a friend and I were walking along the public highway which forms the north boundary of the pasture and the woods. Suddenly the hooting of big owls boomed out from a nearby linden of the timber pasture and there, sure enoug, h, were both birds engaged in ardent courtship and xxot minding our presence in the least. They stood facing each other on the same branch and, xxqth feathers ruffled and heads bobbing, were hooting in low tones as they side-stepped toward one another axld greeted one another with low bows. Finally they flew away, side by side, into the timber tract. That these were transient birds was beyond belief; so, on February 1.7, after allowing xxq?at seemed to be a fair margin of time, I decided to give the vicinity a thorough search. To make the story short the nest was at last found in the very place where previously it had not seemed worth while to look. It was not ix? the heavy timber at all lint in one of the large elms of the l)asture and, moreover, hardly more than yards removed from the above-mentimmd public road where teams were constantly passing. Toward the south the view was wild, open, a11d picturesque enough: to the west. north and east, at distances x'ary- ing from 2? )l } to 50l } yards, were the soho ?l- house and farm houses as above stated. A more fortunate set of conditions fi?e study of the owls' home life could hardly be hoped for. The short distance from town has already been indicated. The nest was in a large shallow lmllow. 28X32 inches in diameter at the bottom, with an entrance 18-,21} inches in diame- ter setat an angle of 45Oaud facing towards tim southeast. The hollow was only 8 inches deep ou the exposed side, thus per- mitting fairly good illumination. Of still more importance the nest site was only 22 feet from the ground and a strategic branch some five feet above the nest afforded a point of attaclnnent for a ladder combination from which pictures might Fig. 3. AD1JLT MALE GREAT ttORNED O?'L; DURING A DAY'S CAPTIVI'r lfE X[rAS SILENT? PROUD AND I)EF[ANT be taken. As Great Horned Owls generally make use of old hawks' nests placed in the tops of the largest trees the good fortune of this modest elewttion can readily be appreciated. At the x'ery moment when this nest was discovered a second pair of these birds were domiciled in a Redtail's nest placed in a tall white ehn in heavv timber three miles and a half to the northwest and just ninety-two feet above the ground! Further, the proximity of farmhouses nmde certain the necessary supply.of ladders and ropes. Mr. Benedict, who lived just across the road and only two hundred yards to the east, mxd Mr. McFarland, whose house stood only seventy-five yards farther to the east, were our interested and generous bexmfactors. Onr opportunities were indeed great and, as I said, we greatly regretted our in~ ability to make better use of them.
