WESTERN BURROWING OWL 385 



First, as to the reptiles, it may be observed that they are like other rattlesnakes, 

 dangerous, venomous creatures; they have no business in the burrows, and are 

 after no good when they do enter. They wriggle into the holes, partly because 

 there is no other place for them to crawl into on the bare, flat plain, and partly in 

 search of Owls' eggs, Owlets, and puppies, to eat. Next, the Owls themselves are 

 simply attracted to the villages of the prairie-dogs as the most convenient places 

 for shelter and nidification, where they find eligible ready-made burrows, and are 

 spared the trouble of digging for themselves. Community of interest makes them 

 gregarious to an extent unusual among rapacious birds; while the exigencies of life 

 on the plains cast their lot with the rodents. That the Owls live at ease in the 

 settlements, and on familiar terms with their four-footed neighbors, is an un- 

 doubted fact; but that they inhabit the same burrows, or have any intimate 

 domestic relations, is quite another thing. It is no proof that the quadruped and 

 the birds live together, that they are often seen to scuttle at each other's heels into 

 the same hole when alarmed; for in such a case the two simply seek the nearest 

 shelter, independently of each other. The probability is, that young dogs often 

 furnish a meal to the Owls, and that, in return, the latter are often robbed of their 

 eggs; while certainly the young of both, and the Owls' eggs, are eaten by the 

 snakes. In the larger settlements there are thousands upon thousands of burrows, 

 many occupied by the dogs, but more, perhaps, vacant. These latter are the 

 homes of the Owls. * * * It is strong evidence in point, that usually there 

 are the fewest Owls in the towns most densely populated b}' 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 them so numer- 

 ous as in places where there were plenty of holes, but where scarcely a dog remained. 



Courtship. — Mrs. Irene G. Wheelock (1904) says: "While the 

 courtship of these queer birds lacks the grotesqueness of that of the 

 sage grouse, it has some features no less amusing; after watching a 

 pair, you will conclude, as I did, that the sofa-pillow caricatures are 

 not far from the truth. Sitting as close together as possible on top 

 of their chosen burrow, they converse in soft love notes not unlike a 

 far-away 'kow-kow-kow' of a cuckoo; at the same time caressing 

 with head rubbings and billings." 



Nesting. — I have never seen any such large colonies of burrowing 

 owls as those referred to above, and doubt if there are many such left. 

 I have seen only scattering, isolated pairs in North Dakota, Saskatche- 

 wan, Arizona, and California. The first nest I dug out was in an old 

 badger hole under a road in North Dakota, on June 13, 1901 ; the nest 

 was in a cavity, 6 inches high by 8 inches wide, about 30 inches 

 underground; the burrow was about 6 feet long; it and the nest were 

 profusely lined with finely chipped, dry horse droppings. This lining, 

 which usually shows at the entrance of the burrow, seems to be char- 

 acteristic of occupied nests. Dry chips of cow dung are often used for 

 the same purpose. W. Leon Dawson (1923), in three instances, found 

 the tunnels lined copiously with wings of the black tern. He says that, 

 in California, "whenever food is plenty and the ground inviting, 

 Burrowing Owls are likely to form little colonies, ten or a dozen pairs 

 being found in a stretch of two or three acres." 



