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BIRDS OF AMERICA 



BURROWING OWL 



Speotyto cunicularia hypogaea {Bonaparte) 



A. O. U. 



Other Names. — Billy Owl ; Ground Owl. 



General Description. — Length, gyi inches. Color 

 above, brown spotted with light ; below, whitish, barred 

 with brown. Tail, square or slightly rounded, only 

 about half as long as wing; head, relatively small; legs, 

 long; 3 outer primaries with inner webs cut away. 



Color. — Adults: Above, brown with pale brownish- 

 buff to dull buffy-white spots, these largest on back, 

 shoulders, and wing-coverts, where often roundish, and 

 on hindneck, where mostly longitudinal, smaller on 

 crown, where often intermixed with streaks of the 

 same color; secondaries with the spots arranged in 4 or 

 5 transverse series, the outer webs of primaries with 

 similar spots, which become larger on longer quills ; 

 tail, crossed by S or 6 narrow, interrupted bands of 

 pale dull buffy, usually suffused with deeper buff and 

 narrowly tipped with pale buff; a stripe over eye 0} 

 dull broii'iiisli-'ichite, the lores and around eye the same 

 color but usually stained with pale brown, the former 

 with shafts of the feathers, black; side of head, brown, 

 indistinctly streaked with paler; chin, cheeks, and lower 

 side of head, immaculate dull white or buffy white, 

 this white area extending upward at rear end behind 

 lower half, or more, of ear region ; throat, buff, barred 

 with dark brown, the bars usually most developed 

 (sometimes coalesced) behind, forming a transverse 

 band, which on each side is continued upward behind 

 the whitish area; foreneck and upper center of chest, 

 immaculate buffy white; rest of under parts, pale buff, 

 deeper buff and immaculate on thigh plumes and thighs 



Number 378 



(the feathering of leg, the anal region, center of lower ab- 

 domen, and the under tail-coverts likewise immaculate), 

 elsewhere broadly barred with brown, the brown pre- 

 dominating on chest or upper breast (especially later- 

 ally), where the buff is often in form of small, roundish, 

 or sometimes even longitudinal spots ; bill, dull light 

 grayish or yellowish; iris, clear lemon-yellow; toes and 

 naked part of leg, dull grayish or horn color. Young: 

 Wings and tail (if developed) as in adults; crown, 

 hindneck, and back, mostly plain light grayish-brown to 

 buffy brown ; under parts and upper tail-coverts immacu- 

 late buff, the sides of chest (sometimes whole of upper 

 chest), shaded with brown ; throat band, uniform brown. 



Nest and Eggs. — Eggs: Deposited from 5 to 10 feet 

 from entrance of abandoned prairie-dog. skunk, fox, 

 or badger burrow, in an enlarged chamber, upon a 

 collection of weed stalks, dried broken bits of horse 

 or cow-dung, bits of skin, or any convenient material; 

 5 to u, usually 5 to 7, white. 



Distribution. — Unforested portions of western 

 United States and southwestern Canada, from Pacific 

 coast to western Minnesota, South Dakota. Nebraska, 

 middle Kansas, Texas, and southeastern Louisiana; 

 north to Washington (casual), southern British Colum- 

 bia, southwestern Saskatchewan (breeding), and 

 western Manitoba ; southward through Lower Cali- 

 fornia to Cape San Lucas and through Mexico to 

 Guatemala ; reappearing in western Panama ; accidental 

 in New York City and Newburyport. Massachusetts 

 (escaped from captivity?). 



(.ourtcby u( S A Lottridge 

 FLORIDA BURROWING OWL 



Contrary to the usual Owl custom the Burrow- 

 ing Owl is diurnal in its liabits, and evidently 

 can see in the bright noonday glare quite as well 

 as any of our familiar song birds. It is very 

 active and exceedingly odd in many of its move- 

 ments. Frequently on the western plains or 

 deserts I have come across one of them stand- 

 ing at the mouth of its bttrrow or perched on a 

 sagebush or fence-stake and have been greeted 

 with a series of bows so profound and deferential 

 as to be most disconcerting. 



The nest is always made in a hole in the 

 ground. A fox den, a badger burrow, or a 

 prairie-dog hole, deserted by the original owners, 

 make a suitable abode for the Burrowing Owl. 

 Where these are not convenient and the soil 

 is not too hard for its efforts, the Owl digs 

 its own burrow. Sometimes one may come 

 across a solitary pair far from any others of 

 their kind, and again several pairs will be found 

 inhabiting the same locality. Five to seven eggs 

 are laid. These are pure white, as if Nature did 

 not feel called upon to distribtite her coloring 

 matter on eggs that birds insist on hiding in the 

 blackness of an underground chamber. 



These Owls appear to eat almost anything they 

 can lay their claws on. Ground squirrels, snakes, 



