THE OWL FAMILY 183 
ful, and they are always digging out passages 
and rooms, more than they can use. So the 
owl has no trouble in finding empty quarters to 
live in. 
But in California, and places where are none 
of the digging dogs, the little owl rooms with 
some of the ground squirrels that burrow there. 
He must have an underground home in that land 
where trees are scarce, and he has no fancy for 
digging. Even if he wanted to dig, his feet are 
not fitted for it like the feet of the little beasts. 
The burrowing owl has no trouble in taking a 
house where he finds one to suit him, for he’s 
a savage little fellow. He can lull squirrels and 
prairie dogs much bigger than himself, and even 
rattlesnakes, which take lodgings in the prairie 
dog houses also. He feeds upon all these crea- 
tures. He eats also crickets, scorpions, and many 
troublesome insects. This makes him valuable 
to farmers, for nearly all these creatures destroy 
his crops. 
Remember, too, that birds have great appetites; 
as I have told you, they eat more than their own 
weight every day. In that way they dispose of 
enormous numbers of pests. It almost seems as 
if a bird were a sort of eating machine, made on 
purpose to work for us. We should never forget 
this. 
