8 RiKiAiis on the Florida Bttrroiviti^ Oivl. [January 



above five. Jack's territory liad been hunted a few days before 

 and his success in egor collecting was proportionately better, as 

 each disappointed pair had made another home and laid again. 

 It was impossible to determine the length of incubation, but 

 that the male bird undertakes a large share of this task in the 

 daytime we received certain proof. 



When the nest contained young, the mound and hmrow weie 

 strewn with the rejected remains of their food, but, strange to 

 say, there was no evidence that the young or old ejected the pel- 

 lets so peculiar to rapacious birds. If they had done so we cer- 

 tainly should have found them. Among these I'emains were 

 detected the legs and elytra of various grasshoppers and coleop- 

 tera, skulls of a very small rodent, skulls and backliones of fish, 

 one of which was six inches long, the skins of snakes, the dried 

 body of a lizard, frogs and crayfish, and feathers of four or five 

 species of birds, noticeable among which were those of the Cuban 

 Nighthawk, Bobolink and Savanna Sparrow. 



Contrary to the usual experience with Burrowing Owls, I fouml 

 6". c. Jioridaua almost entirely free from vermin. I was forced to 

 carry some of the dead birds in my shirt for lack of room in the 

 satchel, yet I did so without the least annoyance from insects. 

 Jack cautioned me to beware of snakes in the tunnels, but in ex- 

 amining forty the only signs I found of these reptiles consisted of 

 skins and partially eaten fragments that had been carried thither 

 by the birds. I was also told to look out for tlie small species of 

 skunk inhabiting these regions. Three of the birds shot and 

 two of the timnels opened had the strong odor of this qu;idruped, 

 but farther tlian this the skunks did not materialize. 



