BURROWING OWL. 119 



is said to excavate the burrow it inhabits, not only as a 

 nest, but as a retreat and place of refuge in the bosom of 

 the earth, instead of the hollow of a tree or the cranny 

 of a ruin, according to the more usual habits of these 

 nocturnal wanderers ; indeed, this species appears to be 

 nearly as diurnal as a Hawk, to which he bears no bad 

 resemblance in the lightness and bareness of his long 

 legs, and the projection of his bill from an unusually 

 small head. With these indications of activity, he really 

 enjoys the light of the full glare of day, and is seen at 

 this time flying about, and searching for his exclusive 

 food of hard-shelled insects. His habits on the plains, at 

 the foot of the Rocky Mountains, where the specimen 

 figured in the splendid work of Prince Charles Bona- 

 parte, was obtained by Mr. Say, are somewhat different 

 in circumstances, from those of the same bird in Chili 

 and the West Indies ; for, like almost all the other 

 smaller Owls, he appears to shun the labor of forming an 

 independent dwelling, and takes up his abode in the de- 

 serted burrows of the Prairie Marmot, in consequence of 

 which he often appears singularly and amicably associ- 

 ated with this little barking quadruped, whose note even 

 he seems to have acquired, '* 'tsheh, 'tsJieh, 'tsheh, 'tsheJij" 

 rather than the more natural howling of his frater- 

 nity. Vieillot attributes to him the usual Jioo, hoo, 06, 

 00, 06, and brings him round the farm-houses of St. Do- 

 mingo like other common nocturnal species ; but these 

 habits would much better suit the Mottled Owl than the 

 present, and may therefore justly be doubted. Like the 

 other species it lays 2 white and round eggs, and lijies 

 the nest with moss and dry grass. The burrowing habit, 

 constant in this species, seems not altogether peculiar, 

 as the Aluco Owl, according to Latham, also burrows 

 sometimes like a Rabbit. 



