96 



NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



ered with low thorn-trees, and over this waste a few Owls are found, princi- 

 pally near tlie town itself, in the vicinity of the pastures that are cultivated 

 by irrigation. They mate in September and October. " One evening," Mr. 

 Bishop writes, " I was attracted by a strange sound that I supposed pro- 

 ceeded from a frog, l)ut it proved to be the love-note of a little Athene cuni- 

 culariu, and which was answered by its mate. It alighted upon a post, and 

 commenced turning around upon it, with throat dilated, and emitting a gut- 

 tural sound. These antics were continued for more tlian a minute, it oc- 

 casionally bowing its head in a mysterious manner. The female soon after 

 joined it, and they flew away. Each night it perched upon a tall flagstaff 

 and uttered its love-note. Close by the house was a lagoon, the borders of 

 which were swampy, and over this a pair often hovered in search of food. 

 I watched one that kept on the wing for nearly two hours, some fifty feet 

 from the ground, and during that time did not change its position in any 

 other way than by rising or falling a few feet. A boy brought me a female 

 with five eggs, tliat had been taken from a burrow five feet from the mouth. 

 The bird was very fierce, and fought me with her wings and Ijeak, uttering 

 all the while a long slirill note, resembling a file drawn across the teeth of a 

 saw. I sup])lied her with ele\^en full-grown mice, which she devoured dur- 

 ing the first thirty-six hours of her confinement. It is said to place a small 

 nest of feathers at the end of the hole, in wliich are deposited five white 



eggs. 



The eggs of the var. cunicularia are of a rounded-o\al shape, more obtuse 

 at one end than at the other, measure 1.30 inclies in length by 1.05 in 

 breadth, and are of a uniform white color, with a slightly bluish tinge. 



The egg of the A. hyijogcca is of a rounded-oval shape, equally obtuse at 

 either end, and averages 1.35 inches in length by 1.13 in breadth, and is of 

 a uniform clear wliite color. This description is taken from an egg obtained 

 by Mr. E. S. Holden near Stockton in California. Captain Bendire writes 

 that he lias found as many as nine, and once even ten, eggs in the nest of 

 the North American species. 



Stri:c pratincola. (See page 10.) 



