FLORIDA BURROWING OWL 399 



horse or cow manure are used, sometimes in considerable quantities; 

 once more than half a peck of finely broken cow manure was taken 

 from one cavity. 



Referring to the colony described above, Mr. Rhoads (1892) says: 



With three exceptions all of the twenty burrows I explored were dug in the 

 moist, sandy margin of the slough, from twenty to one hundred feet down the 

 gentle, grassy slope between the thickly fringed palmetto bank and the water's 

 edge. The more recently constructed burrows were invariably nearer the water, 

 owing to the greater ease of digging in the wet sand. In these cases the burrow 

 throughout its entire length would just graze the lower surface of the thin sod, 

 occasionally even penetrating it, causing, in such an event, its abandonment. If 

 not abandoned, one of the myriad roving cattle would be likely soon to set foot on 

 it and break through, or a sudden shower might fill it with water. 



Eggs. — The Florida burrowing owl lays four to eight eggs, usually 

 five or six. The eggs are indistinguishable from those of the western 

 bird. The measurements of 50 eggs in the United States National 

 Museum average 32.4 by 26.9 millimeters; the eggs showing the four 

 extremes measure 34.3 by 28, 33 by 29, 28.6 by 25.4, and 30.8 by 25 

 millimeters. 



Young. — Incubation is shared by both sexes, and probably laste 

 about three weeks. Mr. Rhoads (1892) says: "The voracity of the 

 young is phenomenal. I kept seven, of different ages, in a tin box 

 for several days. Beside eating everything, fresh or putrid, that was 

 offered, they attacked and devoured each other. I was forced to kill 

 the three remaining cannibals to preserve them." 



Plumages. — The plumage changes of the Florida burrowing owl 

 are apparently similar to those of the western bird. Mr. Pennock 

 says, in his notes: "In coloring the adult female is decidedly more 

 rufous on the back than is the male, and the spots on the breast and 

 belly of the male are more sharply defined, rather darker with more 

 distinct margins. This is not often sufficiently pronounced to be 

 apparent in the single bird at rest. In flight, the deeper, brownish 

 tinge on the back of the female will at times, in certain lights, become 

 evident. In a series of birds, with males and females separated, the 

 difference becomes clearly marked." 



Food. — According to Mr. Pennock, the food of these owls consists 

 largely of night-flying beetles; "when shot early in the morning, their 

 stomachs are usually well filled with such food. Other food noted 

 was remnants of a crab, a small decapitated snake, and parts of a 

 frog", found about the entrances to burrows. 



Mr. Rhoads (1892) writes: 



When the nest contained young, the mound and burrow were strewn with the 

 rejected remains of their food, but, strange to say, there was no evidence that 

 the young or old ejected the pellets so peculiar to rapacious birds. If they had 

 done so we certainly should have found them. Among these remains were 

 detected the legs and elytra of various grasshoppers and coleoptera, skulls of a 



