702 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS: ZOOLOGY. 



Hudson gives an excellent account of the species (P. Z. S. 1874, pp. 

 308-31 1): "The Burrowing Owl is abundant everywhere on the open level 

 pampas of the Argentine Republic, and avoids woods but not districts 

 abounding in scattered trees and bushes. 



"It sees better than other Owls by day, and never affects concealment, 

 nor appears molested by diurnal sounds and the glare of noon. When 

 a person passes near one it stares fixedly at him, following him with the 

 eyes, the round head turned about as on a pivot. If closely approached, 

 it drops its body in a somewhat playful fashion, emitting a brief scream, 

 followed by three abrupt ejaculations, and if made to fly, goes but fifteen 

 or twenty yards off, and alights again with face towards the intruder ; and 

 no sooner does it alight than it repeats the gesture and scream, standing 

 stiff and erect, and appearing beyond measure astonished at the intru- 

 sion. By day it flies near the surface with wings continuously flapping, 

 and seldom goes far, and invariably before alighting glides suddenly 

 upwards for some distance and comes down abruptly. It frequently runs 

 rapidly on the ground, and is incapable of sustaining flight long. Gaucho 

 boys pursue them for sport on horseback, taking them in fifteen or twenty 

 minutes. They live in pairs all the year, and sit by day at the mouth of 

 the burrow or on the Vizcacha's mound, the two birds so close together 

 as to be almost touching ; when alarmed they both fly away, but some- 

 times the male only, the female diving into the burrow. Their sitting on 

 the ground may be more from necessity than choice, as they usually perch 

 on the summits of bushes where such abound. 



"These are the commonest traits of the Burrowing-Owl in the settled 

 regions, where it is excessively numerous and familiar with man ; but in 

 the regions hunted over by the Indians it is scarce, and in some of its 

 habits quite a different bird. Shy of approach as a persecuted game-fowl, 

 it rises to a considerable height in the air when the approaching traveller 

 is yet far off, and flies often beyond sight before descending again to the 

 earth. This wildness of disposition is, without doubt, traceable to the 

 active animosity of the pampa tribes, who have all the ancient wide- 

 spread superstitions regarding the Owl. Sister of the Evil Spirit is one 

 of their names for it. They hunt it to death whenever they can, and, 

 when travelling, will not stop to rest or encamp on the spot where an 

 Owl has been seen. As soon as the plains are settled by whites, the bird 

 drops this wary habit, and becomes exceedingly tame. They are also 



