Mar., 1914 IIISTORY OF A PAIR OF PACIFIC ItORNED OWLS 53 over tweuty-eight days for this bird, as the nest, when found exactly four weeks previously, had a complete set of eggs in it. I left the nest at once upon finding ont what was in it, as I was afraid the owlets would chill, it being a ',vet and cloudy day. The little owl just out of the shell kept up a lusty cheeping, and when I withdrew a short distance, the old owl returned to the nest without delay. On the 5th of March I again visited the nest and found both owlets ont Of the shell, and both set up a vigorous cheeping upon the old bird's leaving. I wished to secure another negative of the old bird upou the nest, so set up my camera and sat down to wait. The only thing that marred the stillness of the af- ternoon was the incessant cheeping of the owlets. I had been sitting with my back toward the nest, looking off down into the valley, when all of a sudden the cheeping of the owlets ceased, and upon looking around I found that the old bird had returned so noiselessly that I had not heard her, although I had beeu intently listening. She proved too wary for further exposures, but after leaving Fig. 24. I?ACiFiC HORlgED OWLS FIVE WEEKS OLD the nest would always return, floating down from the steep hillside above like a small boy's kite, both wings extended, and would light on the nest-ledge as noise- lessly as a bit of thistle down. The way she could travel through the air so noiselessly was absolutely uncanny. Upon settling on her young she made a short hissing noise, not unlike that of a goose but more subdued, and the young-- sters would immediately cease their complaint. Three or four times she did this and I at first thought it was directed at me, but finally concluded that it was directed at the youngsters, as they then always became quiet. As the owlets grew older the parent birds became wilder, never again al- lowing the intimacy shown during the hatching period. The young owls de- veloped rather slowIv until they were three weeks old, but from then on made a marvelous growth. Photographs of the young birds at their different ages give a better idea of the growth than mere words. Seven weeks from the time of hatching the two young owls left their nest for good, taking up their abode in
