SPEOTYTO CUNICULARIA VAR. HYPOG^A. 325 



may liave but one vestibule, but even this does not imply that they nest 

 together. It is strong evidence in poiut, that usually there are the 

 fewest Owls in the towns most densely popidated by the dogs, and con- 

 versely. Scarcity of food, of water, or some obscure cause, often makes 

 the dogs emigrate from one locality to another; it is in such "deserted 

 villages" that the Owls are usually seen in the greatest numbers. I have 

 never seen theiu so numerous as in plat;es where there were plenty of 

 holes, but where scarcely a stray dog remained. 



As already intimated, the Owls are by no means confined to the dog- 

 towns, nor even to the similar communities of other gregarious spernio- 

 philes. They sometimes occupy the underground dens of wolves, foxes, 

 and badgers. In South America, the representative race lives among the 

 bizcachas {Lagostomus tricJwdactylus) that inhabit the Pampas. On 

 some occasions the birds have been found alone, residing apparently in 

 burrows excavated by themselves, as already stated. They are by no 

 means uocturnal ; able to endure the sunlight without inconvenience, 

 they may be observed abroad at all hours. It has been stated that, in 

 the autumn, at the approach of cold weather, they retire into their bur- 

 rows to hybernate — a fable matching the one that ascribes to Swallows 

 the habit of diving into the mud to pass the winter in rej)ose along with 

 tori)id frogs. In most localities the birds are abroad the year round ; 

 their disappearance, in inclement regions, is accomplished, if at all, by 

 ordinary migration. In California I saw them, bright and lively as 

 crickets, in November. 



I never undertook to unearth the nest of a Burrowing Owl, but others 

 have been more zealous in the pursuit of knowledge under difficulties. 

 Dr. Cooper says that he once dug two fresh eggs out of a burrow, which 

 he followed down for three feet, and then traced five feet horizontally, 

 at the end of which he found an enlarged chamber, where the eggs were 

 deposited on a few feathers. In his interesting note in the American Nat- 

 uraJkt^ Dr. C. S. Canfield gives a more explicit account of the nesting: 

 "I once took pains to dig out a nest of the Athene ciDiicularia. I found 

 that the burrow was about four feet long, and the nest was only ab(mt 

 two feet from the surface of the ground. The nest was made in a cavity 

 of the ground, of about a foot ni diameter, well filled with dry, sott 

 horse-dung, bits of an old blanket, and far of a coyot6 {Canis latrans) 

 that I had killed a few days before. One of the parent birds was ou 

 the nest, and I cai)tured it. It had no intention of leaving the nest, 

 even when entirely uncovered with the shovel and exposed to the open 

 air. It fought bravely with beak and claws. I found seven young ones, 

 l)erhaps eight or ten days old, well covered with down, but without any 

 ieathers. The whole nest, ;is well as the birds (old and young), swarmed 

 with fleas. It was the filthiest nest I ever saw. In the i)assage leading 

 to it there were small scraps of dead animals, such as pieces of the skin 

 of the antelope, half dried an<l h;df putrified; the skin of the coyote, 

 &c. ; and near the nest were the remains of a snake that I h;id killed 

 two days before, a large Coluber f two feet long. The birds had begun 

 at the snnke's head, and had picked olf the tlesh clean from the vertebra? 

 and ribs for about one half its length ; the other half of the snake was 

 entire. The material on which the young birds rested was at least three 

 inches (Icep. * # * * There are very few birds that carry more 

 rubbish into the nest than the Ailirne ; and even the Vultures are not 

 much more lilthy. I am satisfied that the .1. cK)uci(l<(ria lays a larger 

 lunnber of eggs than is attributed to it in Dr. Brewer's book (four). I 

 have frcriucntly seen, late in the seiison. six, seven, or eight young birds 

 Standing around the mouth ol a burrow, isolated from others in such a 



