] 18 BIRDS OF PREY. 



house in the large town of Cincinnati. In South Caro- 

 lina, Dr. Garden saw them occasionally, and they were, 

 in this mild region, observed to hide themselves during 

 the day in the Palmetto groves of the sea-coast, and only 

 sallied out towards night in quest of their prey. Their 

 habits, therefore, seem to vary considerably according to 

 circumstances and climate. According to Temminck 

 they nest among the steepest rocks, or upon the old pine 

 trees of the glacial regions, and lay 2 eggs of a pure 

 white. According to Vieillot, they are spotted with 

 black, but these were probably the eggs of the Great 

 Grey Owl {S. cinerea), another nocturnal inhabitant of 

 Hudson's Bay. 



The length of the female of this species is 2 feet 2 inches or up- 

 wards (according to Wilson the male is only 22J inches), and 4 feet 

 6 inches in the stretch of the wings. The iris bright yellow. The 

 claws black. The female more spotted than the male ; the latter only 

 becoming wholly white by age. The young, as they issue from the 

 nest, are covered with a brown down ; the first feathers also are of 

 a pale brown. 



BURROWING OWL. 



{Strix cunicularia, Molina. Bonap. Am. Orn. i. p. 68. pi. 7. fig. 2. 

 Philad. Museum, No. 472.) 



Spec. Charact. — Cinnamon-grey spotted with whitish; beneath 

 whitish, spotted with cinnamon-brown ; tail even, reaching but 

 little beyond the wings ; feet covered with short, scattered bris- 

 tles. 



It is to Mr. Say that we are indebted for the first au- 

 thentic materials towards establishing the character of 

 this remarkable species of Owl, which was known even 

 to Molina as a resident in Chili, and by Father Feuillee 

 as indigenous to the plains of Peru. In these countries, 

 as well as in St. Domingo, where Vieillot observed it, it 



