SOME LITTLE OWLS 97 



batch to be laid. Some of their brothers and 

 sisters had several days' start of them; and a 

 few days mean much in the development of a 

 fledgling. When they were drawn out through 

 their sheet-iron tunnel, one escaped and flew off 

 two hundred yards or more across the prairie 

 and then hid in the grass; but after a little 

 fondling, the other two were persuaded to sit 

 up and even smile sweetly as they posed. 



Close relative to the burrowing is the prairie, 

 or short-eared owl. He also loves the plains, but 

 especially the marshes and meadows upon them, 

 where the field mice live in plenty and the hunt- 

 ing is good. Like the burrowing, also, he deserts 

 the northland plains in the winter, to seek more 

 congenial hunting to the southward; and in the 

 spring or late autumn he may be seen oc- 

 casionally in the dusk of evening, setting out on 

 his travels. Ordinarily he is met during the 

 morning or evening, flopping about over the 

 meadows. His wings are huge for a little fel- 

 low, they have a spread of about forty inches, 

 are broad and rounded at the tips, and thus ap- 

 pear to give their owner a jerky, awkward 

 flight. One must see him whirl into the grass 

 upon a victim, or meet him at really close 



