The Prairie Owl. 193 



that they must of necessity be exceedingly inconvenient for 

 it when it is obliged by the force of circumstances ''to be 

 its own workman", so that I can pardon its usurpation of 

 the marmot's burrows, for I am sure it must be a terrible 

 trial for the poor bird to have to excavate a dwelling for 

 itself. 



That this is really the case Mr. Wood goes on to prove, 

 for a little further on he says: "The tunnel which is made 

 by the Owl is not nearly so deep or so neatly constructed 

 as that which is dug by the marmot, being only eighteen 

 inches or two feet in depth, and very rough in the interior.'* 

 To which I reply, that with the tools at its disposal, I think 

 it is highly creditable to this little long-legged Owl that it 

 manages to make a burrow even two feet deep, for it does 

 not look as if it could mine to a depth of two inches. It 

 makes a nest, however, at the bottom of the burrow, "a 

 tolerably- sized heap of dried grass", says our author, ''moss, 

 leaves, and other soft substances, upon which are deposited 

 its white-shelled eggs." 



By-the-bye, all the Owls lay white, and rather round eggs, 

 do they not? I think so: I hope my Coquimbo will lay an 

 e^g some day. 



"While sitting on the little earth mounds, or moving among 

 the burrows", continues our author, "the Coquimbo Owl 

 presents a very curious likeness to the prairie dog itself, and 

 at a little distance might easily be taken for the little marmot 

 as it sits erect at the mouth of its domicile." Well, I have 

 seen the marmots at the "Zoo", and I have a Coquimbo 

 Owl before me as I write, and I must say I cannot trace 

 the resemblance: the marmot is of a uniform yellowish grey, 

 darker above than on the belly, and the Owl is brownish 

 grey, with greyish white spots, the eyes again are not a bit 

 alike in the two ill-assorted neighbours, and the marmot has 

 ears, which the Owl — I was going to say has not, but which 

 at all events do not display themselves externally. jSTo, I 







