Horned and Hoot Owls 



hunts its prey chiefly by daylight, it flies with the ghostlike 

 silence characteristic of its clan, yet with a swiftness, boldness, and 

 dash which would lead the uninitiated to suppose it a true hawk. 

 "When the hunters are shooting grouse," says Dr. Richardson, 

 "this bird is occasionally attracted by the report of a gun, and is 

 often bold enough, on a bird being killed, to pounce down upon 

 it, though it may be unable from its size to carry it off. It is also 

 known to hover around the fires made by the natives at night." 

 Its note is said to be a shrill cry, which is generally uttered while 

 the bird is on the wing. 



Burrowing Owl 



(Speotyto cunicularia hypogceaj 



Called a/so; PRAIRIE OWL 



Length — 9. 50 inches. 



Male and Female — Upper parts dull grayish brown spotted with 

 white; wing quills and tail marked with cross rows of spots, 

 sometimes confluent into bars; eyebrow, chin, and throat 

 white, the two latter divided by a dark brown collar ; under 

 parts white or pale buff barred with brown spots. Tail 

 short; head smooth, with no ear tufts; facial disk incom- 

 plete; legs extremely long and slim, with few or no feathers. 



Rayige — Western United States, from the Pacific coast east through 

 the Great Plains, north into Canada, south to Central America; 

 accidental in New York and Massachusetts. 



Season — Permanent resident; or winter visitor at the southern end 

 of its range. 



Amusing fictions of this tiny owl living in brotherly love 

 with prairie dogs and rattlesnakes had a serious explosion when 

 Dr. Coues published his " Birds of the Northwest; " but fictions 

 die lingering deaths, and one still reads of "happy families," 

 with the prairie owl cutting a conspicuous figure — groups that 

 Barnum would have certainly secured for the Greatest Show on 

 Earth had they ever existed. "From an extended acquaintance 

 with the habits of the burrowing owl," says Captain Bendire, 

 writing for the government, "I can most positively assert, from 

 personal experience and investigation, that there is no foundation 

 based on actual facts for these stories, and that no such happy 



350 



