iS Rhoads o/i the Florida Burrowing Oivl. [January 



several sittini^ on a row of fence posts which ran through their 

 domains precisely as .S'. c. hypogcea does in the West. On no 

 occasion did I notice either young or old sit in the open air. 

 They always stood upright, even when unconscious of my 

 presence. 



Every action of this species bespeaks a bird of eminently diur- 

 nal habits, but I have no reason to believe that they cannot range 

 with equal freedom at night. From the nature of their food, 

 however, I conclude they are more active in the daytime. The 

 flight of this Owl, while rarely protracted, is well sustained 

 and graceful. They made long trips to and from the water 

 holes, which were often a mile distant, in search of food for their 

 hungry brood, but on no occasifMi did 1 see them fly higher than 

 thirty feet. The voracity of the young is phenomenal. T kept 

 seven, of diflerent ages, in a tin box for several days. Beside 

 eating everything, fresh or putrid, that was ofiered, they attacked 

 and devoured each other. I w^as forced to kill the three remain- 

 ing cannibals to preserve them. 



In no instance was there anv evidence that the Owls utilized 

 the homes of other animals. At the best, such places are very 

 scarce in this region of Florida, and owing to the friable nature 

 of the soil and the evident facility with which these birds dug for 

 themselves, such a supposition seems unnecessary. With three 

 exceptions all of the twenty burrows I explored were dug in the 

 moist, sandy margin of the slough, from twenty to one hundred 

 feet down the gentle, grassy slope between the thickly fringed 

 palmetto bank and the water's edge. The more recently con- 

 structed burrows were invariably nearer the water, owing to the 

 greater ease of digging in the wet sand. In these cases the bur- 

 row throughout its entire length would just graze the lower sur- 

 face of the thin sod, occasionally even penetrating it, causing, in 

 such an event, its abandonment. If not abandoned, one of the 

 myriad roving cattle would be likely soon to set foot on it and 

 break through, or a sudden shower might fill it with water. 

 These unfortunate attempts were evidently those of young or 

 late-paired birds, or those whose earlier housekeeping had been 

 broken up by some prowling snake, raccoon, or prairie skunk? 

 and who found it impossible to build a new dormitory in the dry, 

 higher levels at this season. 



The normal plan of architecture was as follows : a straight 



