194 BURROWING OWL. 



So great is the industry of these interesting little architects, that this 

 massive and commodious sti'ucture is sometimes completed in the course 

 of three days. About the middle of July, some nests found near the 

 Rocky Mountains contained young ones, while in others the process of 

 incubation had not terminated. It is probable that the Cliff Swallows 

 rear two broods in that region, though in Kentucky and Ohio, agree- 

 ably to Mr. Audubon, they have but one in the year. During the first 

 few days of August they assemble in flocks, and after several attempts 

 to commence their migration, they finally succeed in obtaining a unan- 

 imity of purpose, and they disappear as suddenly as they came. 



STEIX CUNICULARIA. 



BURROWING OWL. 



[Plate VII. Fig. 2.] 



Strix cunicularia, Molina, Hist. Chili (Am. ed.), i. p. 184. Gmel. Syst. i., p. 192, 

 Sp. 28. Lath. Lid. p. 63, Sp. 38. Vieill. Ois. de V Am. Sept. i., p. 48. Sat, 

 in Long's Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, ii., p. 36 and 200. — Ulula cunicu- 

 laria, Feuill^e, Journ. Obs. Phys. p. 562. — Noctua coquimhana, Briss. Av. i., p. 

 525, Sp. 11. — Coquimbo Owl, Lath. Syn, i., p. 145, Sp. 33. 



Venerable ruins, crumbling under the influence of time and vicissi- 

 tudes of season, are habitually associated with our recollections of the 

 Owl ; or he is considered as the tenant of sombre forests, whose noctur- 

 nal gloom is rendered deeper and more awful by the harsh dissonance of ■ 

 his voice. In poetry he has long been regarded as the appropriate con- 

 comitant of darkness and horror ; and, when heard screaming from the 

 topmost fragments of some mouldering wall, whose ruggedness is but 

 slightly softened by the mellowing moonlight, imagination loves to view 

 him as a malignant spirit, hooting triumphantly over the surrounding 

 desolation ! But we are now to make the reader acquainted with an 

 Owl to which none of these associations can belong ; a bird that, so 

 far from seeking refuge in the ruined habitations of man, fixes its 

 residence within the earth ; and, instead of concealing itself in solitary 

 recesses of the forest, delights to dwell on open plains, in company 

 with animals remarkable for their social disposition, neatness, and 

 order. Instead of sailing heavily forth in the obscurity of the evening 

 or morning twilight, and then retreating to mope away the intervening 

 hours, our Owl enjoys the broadest glare of the noonday sun, and flying 

 rapidly along, searches for food or pleasure during the cheerful light of 

 day. 



