326 SPEOTYTO CUNICULARIA VAR. HYPOGiEA. 



manner that I could not suppose that they belonged to two or more 

 families." 



The same writer has some further remarks, so strongly corroborative 

 of wliat has preceded, that I will quote his words again. Speaking of 

 the hundreds, perhaps thonsimds, of the birds he had seen in Califoriiia, 

 he continues : " Where I have seen them, they always live in the de 

 serted or unoccupied burrows of the ground squirrel {Spermophilus 

 hcecheyi). I came to the conclnsion that they were able to drive out the 

 SpermopMles from their habitations, but I am not certain of this. It is 

 true that there were, in that region, a large number of unoccupied 

 burrows wherever there was a colony of Spermophiles ; so that there 

 was no lack of unoccupied habitations for the Owls to take possession 

 of. But I have noticed that wherever there was a large number of the 

 Owls, very few or no SpermophUes lived. One or Uco Owls would occa- 

 sionally be seen among a colony of SpermophUes ; but they never ap- 

 peared to enter the same hole or burrow with a squirrel, and I have 

 never seen a squirrel enter a burrow that was occupied by Owls, how- 

 ever much tempted by fear he might be to enter the first hole he should 

 come to. True, the Bpermopliile never likes to enter any burrow but his 

 own, and will run past any number of inviting. entrances, in order that 

 he may at last hide himself in his own domicile. But aside from this, 

 I believe that the squirrels are afraid of the Owls, and do not dare to 

 intrude upon them." 



The notes ot the Burrowing Owl are peculiar. The birds do not 

 "hoot," nor is there anything lugubrious or foreboding in their cry. 

 Sometime they chuckle, chatter, and squeal in an odd way, as if they 

 had caught a habit of barking from the " dogs " they live with, and 

 were trying to imitate the sound. But their natural cr^- is curiously 

 similar to that of the Rain Crow, or Cuckoo of America — so much so, 

 that Diore than one observer has been deceived. They scream hoarsely 

 when wounded and caught, though this is but seldom, since, if any life 

 remains, they scramble quickly into a hole and are not easy to recover. 

 The flight is perfectly noiseless, like that of other Owls, owing to the 

 peculiar downy texture of the plumage. By day they seldom fly far 

 from the entrance of their burrow, and rarely, if ever, mount in the air. 

 I never saw one on wing more than a few moments at a time, just long 

 enough for it to pass from one hillock to another, as it does by skimming 

 low over the surface of the ground in a rapid, easy, and rather graceful 

 manne>. They live chiefly upon insects, especially grasshoppers; they 

 also feeil upon lizards, as I once determined by dissection, and there is 

 no doubt that young prairie-dogs furnish them many a meal. Under 

 ordinary 'circumstances they are not very shy or difficult to procure; 1| 

 once secured several specimens, in a few minutes, and, I fear, left some 

 others to languish and die in their holes. As commonly observed, 

 perched on one of the innumerable little eminences that mark a dog- 

 town, amid their curious surroundings, they present a spectacle not 

 easily forgotten. Their figure is peculiar, with their long legs and short 

 tail; the element of the grotesque is never wanting; it is liard to say 

 whether they look most ludicrous as they stand stiffly erect and motion- 

 less, or when they suddenly turn tail to duck into the hole, or when 

 engaged in their various antics. Bolt upright, on what may be imagined 

 their rostrum, they gaze about with a bland and self-satislled, but earn- 

 est air, as if about to address an audience upon ;•. subject of great pith 

 and moment. They suddenly bow low, with profound gravity, and rising 

 as abruptly, they begin to twitch their face and roll their eyes about in 

 the most mysterious manner, gesticulating wildly, every now and then 



