190 Birds I Have Kept. 



and this strange society is said also to be augmented by a 

 third member, namely, the rattlesnake." 



What a charming as well as a strange society! Herbivorous 

 rodents, carnivorous, or at least insectivorous birds, and reptiles 

 — by-the-bye, "what do rattlesnakes feed on? I confess my 

 ignorance of their menu: young marmots possibly? baby Owls, 

 perhaps? who can tell? or occasionally, appetite pressing, some 

 of the adult members of the mixed colony, which also includes 

 ''lizards and other reptiles?" 



^Vho are the original inhabitants of these prairie burrows? 

 the marmots unquestionably: ergo, both Owls and snakes are 

 lodgers, or perhaps ''unwelcome intruders", as Mr. AVood 

 seems to think; if not, do they pay any rent to the rightful 

 owners in the shape of services rendered? it is very probable : 

 tlie Owl is the night watchman, and the rattlesnake the Cer- 

 berus that strikes terror to the hearts of would-be oppressors 

 of the rodent city, in the day-time, for they have an evil 

 fame, those ophidian rattlers, when the sun shines, but are 

 powerless for harm when night has cast her sable mantle over 

 exhausted jS'ature, and that indulgent but somewhat careless 

 mother has composed herself to sleep. 



Do the Owls take toll from the marmots, in the shape of 

 a succulent baby rodent now and then? Mr. Wood says not: 

 "As the stomach of the Burrowing Owl has only been found 

 to contain the wing-cases and other indigestible parts of beetles 

 and various large insects, the bird may be pronounced guiltless 

 on this charge." — to wit, juvenile rodenticide. 



Mr. Darwin, on the other hand, found that "those specimens 

 (of the Burrowing Owl) that inhabit the plains of Buenos 

 Ayres feed on mice, small reptiles, and even on the little 

 crabs of the sea-shore": a tolerably varied dietary, fully borne 

 out by the accommodating appetite of my own Coquimbo, 

 which (I do not know to which sex it belongs, and therefore 

 prefer to speak of it in the neuter gender, which is less com- 

 promising than if I were to dub it "he" or "she", and 



