THE BIEDS OF HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 241 



collected only one, taken at Honduras. Verrill found them near 

 Azua and between La Vega and Santiago. Peters secured a pair at 

 Sosiia, and found them rather common in the desert area near Monte 

 Cristi. His specimens secured near Sosua lived in a burrow with 

 two entrances dug in reddish soil which had heavily stained theii 

 plumage. 



Wetmore recorded a few between Comendador and Bani April 

 30 and May 1, 1927. Many were observed at night by the lights of 

 the motor car in which he was traveling when the birds watched 

 the moving shadows about them and paid little attention to the light 

 rays themselves. Near San Juan May 1 some one had dug out a 

 burrow three feet deep in the side of a bank beside the road and 

 had killed the three fledged young that the nest contained. An 

 adult owl perched on the body of one of the young birds, tearing at 

 it with vigor and when disturbed attempted unsuccessfully to fly 

 away with its prey. A second bird was badly torn about the head 

 while the third was untouched. The case was evidently one of 

 cannibalism but whether on the part of a parent or a stranger it was 

 impossible to say. One of the young, prepared as a skin, was as 

 yet unable to fly. It has the abdomen and flanks dull buff without 

 spots or markings. 



W. L. Abbott secured a male at Constanza on April 7, 1919, and 

 Wetmore observed one at the same point May 19, 1927 that had been 

 captured on its nest which contained five hard set eggs. The boy in 

 whose possession it was, placed the eggs in one of the hollowed logs 

 which are stood on end and used in pounding coffee. The bird, 

 apparently a female, tethered by a long cord, recognized her eggs 

 immediately and settled down to incubate them in spite of rough 

 handling. Two days later she was still faithfully covering her 

 treasures aided by bits of meat from the bodies of birds skinned for 

 specimens in lieu of the rice offered as food by her captor. The 

 latter, tired of his charge, wished to kill her but was persuaded to 

 set her at liberty. Two of the eggs were blown, though very hard 

 set. 



Danforth found these owls common in 1927 in the dry area be- 

 tween Navarrete and Monte Cristi, and on June 23 saw them nesting 

 in holes in dry clay banks bordering mangrove swamps. In the 

 stomachs of two examined he found a little mouse fur in one, and 

 remains of beetles and the claws of a centipede in the other. He 

 observed them further at Santiago, Tubano, and San Juan. Ciferri 

 sent a specimen to Moltoni taken at Sabana San Thome, San Juan, 

 June 22, 1929. 



In Haiti the burrowing owl seems more common than in the 

 eastern republic because of the more extensive sections adapted to its 

 needs. It is especially numerous in the Cul-de-Sac region, and 



