OWLS. 



325 



been ranked as a distinct species, S. gttadeloiipensis, but this seems to be only a variety 

 of the South American bird. 



Burrowing-owls are notorious from their association with the prairie-dog and other 

 mammals in whose deserted burrows they commonly live, though their relations with 

 the earlier occupants and the intruding rattle-snakes, contrary to popular belief, are 

 usually anything but peaceful. The mistake has doubtless originated from the 

 observed fact that in the so-called ' villages ' of the prairie-dog, owls and snakes as 

 well as 'dogs' are often abundant, and all living in burrows originally made by the 

 rodents. Yet there is no reason to believe that they ever all live in the same under- 

 ground chamber, or that either bird or reptile lays aside its usual instincts and abstains 

 from an occasional meal off each other or the young prairie-dogs. On this subject, 

 Dr. Coues, in his " Birds of the Northwest," remarks : 



"The case is further complicated by the introduction of the rattle-snakes ; and no 

 little pure bosh is in type respecting the harmonious and confidential relations imag- 

 ined to subsist between the trio, which, like the ' happy family ' of Barnurn, lead 

 Utopian existences. According to the dense bathos of such nursery talcs, in this 

 underground elysium the snakes give their rattles to the puppies to play with, the 

 old dogs cuddle the owlets, and farm out their own litters to the grave and careful 

 birds ; when an owl and a dog come home, paw-in-wing, they are often mistaken by 

 their respective progeny, the little dogs nosing the owls in search of the maternal 

 font, and the old dogs left to wonder Avhy the baby owls will not nurse. It is a pity 

 to spoil a good story for the sake of a few facts, but, as the case stands, it would be 

 well for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to take it up. 



"First, as to the reptiles, it may be observed that they are like other rattle-snakes, 

 dangerous, venomous creatures ; they have no business in the burrows, and are after 

 no good when they do enter. They wriggle into the holes, partly because there is no 

 other place for them to crawl into on the bare, flat plain, and partly in search of owls' 

 eggs, owlets, and puppies to eat. Next, the owls themselves are simply attracted to 

 the villages of prairie-dogs as the most convenient places for shelter and nidification, 

 where they find eligible ready-made burrows, and are spared the trouble of digging 

 for themselves. Community of interest makes them gregarious to an extent unusual 

 among rapacious birds ; while the exigencies of life on the plains cast their lot with 

 the rodents." 



Wherever these owls are found, they make use of holes in the earth for breeding 

 purposes. Not only do they use the holes above alluded to, but they frequently take 

 possession of those of foxes, badgers, and ground squirrels ; and in South America 

 they live in the burrows of the viscacha, Layostomus tricliodactijlus, the Patagonian 

 'hare' or cavy, Dolichotis patagonicus, or even of armadillos and large lizards. It is 

 pretty generally believed that when they do not find suitable accommodations of this 

 kind they dig holes for themselves, and this may indeed be the case, but we are not 

 aware that anyone has ever seen them so employed. The burrowing-owls of North and 

 South America, though unquestionably belonging to the same species, are sufficiently 

 different to constitute two fairly well-marked geographical races, the South American 

 bird being larger and ligliter colored than the other. In habits they must differ still 

 more widely, for the bird of the western United States is described as almost entirely 

 diurnal, while the South American bird is as completely crepuscular or nocturnal ; 

 sitting, it may be, at the mouth of its burrow during the daytime, or on the top of a 

 bush near at hand, but seldom feeding at all until towards sunset, when it becomes 



