96 NESTS AND EGGS OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



laid at intervals, so that fresh and partly incubated eggs and young may be 

 found in the same nest. This large northern Owl, commonly called the 

 White Owl, nests usually upon the ground and on rocks. It is of regular 

 winter occurrence in the Northern and Middle States, and is resident from 

 the Canadas and probably Maine, northward. In Central Ohio several 

 specimens are taken regularly every winter. A fine, freshly-killed male 

 specimen was sent me from Keyser, Va., November 13, 1885. 



Hab. Northern portion of Northern Hemisphere ranging irregularly, southward in winter. 



407. American Hawk Owl — surnia funerea. White, rather spheri- 

 cal in shape; four to seven in number; size from 1.50 to 1.62 in length by 

 1.20 to 1.30 in breadth. The American Hawk Owl inhabits the northern 

 portions of North America and breeds from Maine northward. The nest 

 is usually placed in trees, often in cavities, sometimes on tall, decaying 

 stumps, or on rocks ; it is composed of sticks, lined with hay, grass and 

 feathers. This being the least nocturnal of its tribe is called the Day Owl. It 

 feeds chiefly upon field mice and other small rodents, hawked for in broad 

 daylight. It has the appearance of a hawk and the soft plumage of 



an owl. Hab. Northern North America. In winter occasionally south to Pennsylvania and Illinois. 



408. Burrowing Owl — speotyto cunicularia hypog^a. Pure glossy 

 white, nearly round ; although in a large series any shape may be found, from 

 globular to pyriform. The number of eggs laid varies from four to ten, 

 usually six or eight. Mr. Evermann has a set of eleven which he col- 

 lected near Santa Paula, California, April 14, 1881, and Captain Charles 

 Bendire, in the "Ornithologist and Oologist," vol. vi, p. 42, mentions an 

 extraordinary set of twelve, taken by one of his correspondents near Car- 

 son, Nevada. The average size given by Capt. Bendire in a series of two 

 hundred and fifty specimens is 1.24 by 1.03 ; the smallest 1. 17 by .97, the 

 largest 1.35 by 1.09. The Burrowing Owl, made famous by popular 

 stories of its living in burrows in the ground with rattlesnakes, gophers 

 and prairie dogs, inhabits the treeless regions of western North America 

 from the plains to the Pacific. It is found in all suitable places in Kansas, 

 Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Nebraska, Indian Territory, Wyoming, Da- 

 kota, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona, Washington Territory, Oregon 

 and California. They are usually abundant and congregate in large 

 communities," breeding in deserted burrows of quadrupeds, such as the 

 prairie dog, badger, or gopher, and the statements made by travelers that 

 the owls, gophers and rattlesnakes dwell together in harmony has no 

 foundation in fact. It is true, rattlesnakes may enter with the expecta- 

 tion of a good feast of young owls, but they certainly are unwelcomed 



