1892.] Rhoads on the Florida Burroiving; O^vl. •? 



Across this desert we proceeded, winding among the interven- 

 ing clumps of scrub pahiietto, bumping over their half-buried 

 roots where it became necessary to make a short cut, vmtil we 

 entered a sloping piece of ground a mile or so wide, from which 

 the water hatl but lately evaporated and which was evidently the 

 site of a large, shallow pond. Traveling here was comparatively 

 easy, and here Jack reported having seen Owls a few days pre- 

 viously. We had nearly reached the borders of this pond when 

 my companion pointed to an indistinct spot near a low clump of 

 palmettoes, saying with perfect confidence that it was an Owl. 

 At that moment the animal, for so it proved, vanished, and in a 

 few seconds reappeared on a low, sandy hillock a few feet from 

 its former position and, bowing profoundly in opposite directions, 

 sailed oft' a few rods to another mound where it continued to bow 

 in the most ludicrous and deferential manner. • Simultaneously 

 another Owl appeared on the original hillock. Dismounting 

 from the wagon. Jack whispered a few instructions, and each man 

 approached his bird. I was too much entertained with the antics 

 of mine to think of shooting it till the report of my companion's 

 gun frightened both of us sufficiently to render my snap shot in- 

 effectual ; but after a short flight the bird alighted behind a clump 

 of palmetto and was secured. 



Jack having secured the male, we examined mound number 

 one and found that the female had been surprised in the act of 

 digging her burrow, over whicli the male had acted sentinel, and 

 from which, after entering and giving her notice, he had reap- 

 peared in the manner described. The cavity was barely a foot 

 deep and two feet long, dug in the wet sand near the margin of 

 the pond and not ten feet from the palmetto bushes. Near it was 

 the ruin of a former burrow from which Jack had procured eggs 

 ten days previously. 



Mound number two was then looked after. Its situation was 

 at a lower level than the others, and the depth of the burrow be- 

 low the surface was correspondingly less, being only three inches. 

 It was about five feet long, and had two openings about midway 

 between which was a cave-in caused by the trampling of cattle. 

 Inserting the hand and giving a quick upward jerk, the thin sod was 

 easily removed without much danger of snake or skunk bites, and 

 when some two feet of the burrow were opened we found an egg. 

 There were no others, indicating that the female had been trapped 



