ORNITHOLOGIST 



— AND- 



OOLOGIST. 



i;i.oo per 

 Annum. 



PUBLISHED BY FRANK B. WEBSTER. 



Established, March, 1875. 



Single Copy 

 10 cents. 



Vol. XIV. 



BOSTON, MASS., MARCH, 1889. 



No. 3. 



Nesting of the Florida Burrowing 

 Owl. 



Late in the fall of 1888 it was my good for- 

 tune to find the owl towns in the great i^rairie 

 which stretches away northward from Lake 

 Okeechobee. Good fortune I say, but it was 

 not an ordinary every day bit of good luck. 

 Ten days I had been tramping over the seem- 

 ingly endless prairie before I found my first 

 owl burrow, and it was over two weeks before 

 I secured the first specimen of the bird, which 

 was about the only reward for my long and 

 fatiguing trip. 



Before going out I made diligent inquiries 

 among the "cow boys" regarding the habits 

 and locations of these interesting birds. All 

 had seen them, and could describe vividly their 

 looks, note, and actions, but all failed to locate 

 any of their towns. This seemed to be due to 

 two causes: First, because no one really cared 

 where the owls lived, and second, when hunt- 

 ing or cattle-driving, there was too much else 

 to look after, to make any accurate examina- 

 tion of the spot where the birds were seen. So 

 it went out of mind at once. But, after I met 

 witli some of the Seminoles, the case was en- 

 tirely different. Nothing escapes their obser- 

 vation. They have names for even the small- 

 est and most insignificant looking birds and 

 plants, and their confidence once gained, they 

 will tell you anything you want to know, pro- 

 vided, of course, you can understand their very 

 peculiar language. 



They told me that "the owls had all gone 

 from the prairie." This I found almost liter- 

 ally true. Town after town was visited, and 

 every burrow that showed any signs of having 

 been recently inhabited was grubbed out from 

 end to end, until at last, after two weeks of 

 patient work, the coveted specimen was seen. 



Now the fun began in earnest. That bird I 

 was bound to have, but he seemed to know the 

 exact range of a gun. Not only that, but he 



flushed in a ziz-zag sort of a fashion before he 

 took a straight course, and it seemed to be a 

 part of his plan to pitch down on the opposite 

 side of some muddy slough or water course. 



Hours passed, so did miles, but at last my 

 owl fell a victim to his own wiles. I marked 

 him down by the side of a long narrow slough, 

 and, being sure that he would cross it when he 

 rose, I advanced up the margin until I thought 

 he would soon rise, and then ran for him at 

 full speed. As he rose, I fired, still running, 

 and, when fairly over the water, gave him the 

 second barrel with success. 



As he di'opped, I sat down and took time to 

 feel how tired I was. It is a pity we have no 

 genius in the world yet who can invent an ac- 

 curate " tired-nometer." I think I could have 

 used one that day over a yard long, and 

 strained it to its utmost capacity. 



Although in the West the Burrowing Owl 

 usually inhabits the deserted domicile of some 

 animal, this does not seem to be the case with 

 the Florida Burrowing Owl {Speotyto cunicu- 

 larin fioridana). There are no animals in the 

 country whicli the latter bird inhabits to make 

 such holes as they require, and I am assured 

 that every hole is occupied by a pair of owls in 

 the spring. When one is caved in by cattle or 

 horses, its occupants at once proceed to exca- 

 vate a new one. The Indians say that they use 

 their feet for this purpose, and dig pretty fast, 

 too. 



All the burrows that I examined contained 

 the remnants of last year's nest, and many old 

 dry "pellets," together with broken bits of 

 insects. I could find no evidence that their 

 food was anything but insectivorous, and this 

 coincided with the testimony of the Indians. 

 They also stated that the birds lay eight white 

 eggs, and hatch them "between the new moon 

 and the full." This, no doubt, means that the 

 period of incubation is less than a month. 



Their imitation of the cry of the bird was 

 very much like the notes of the Cuckoo, and 



Copyright, 1889, by Frank B. Webster. 



