iSga.J Scott o?i the Birds of the Caloosaliatchie Region. 2\n 



cabbage palmetto, and some small oaks. The larger islands, some of 

 which are a coujjle of miles in length, but rarely more than a few hun- 

 dred yards wide, have in addition the regular yellow pine forest with a 

 dense undergrowth of thick saw palmetto. Occasionally these include a 

 'bay head' or a small cypress swamp. 



The prairie, however, aside from these breaks in its monotony, re- 

 minds one strongly in general character of the arid regions of the south- 

 western portion of the United States, except, of course for the diiTerence 

 in vegetation. 



The Burrowing Owls can hardly be termed gregarious at the points 

 where I found them. The nearest burrows were at least two hundred 

 yards apart, and often five hundred. In a square mile there might be 

 three or four pairs scattered about in this way, and then several miles 

 would generally be traversed before another region inhabited by the birds 

 occurred. The highest parts of the open prairie, away from the wooded 

 'islands,' the sloughs and ponds, seemed to be the places chosen by the 

 birds for their burrows. I found none nearer than a quarter of a mile to 

 any pond or slough. 



The birds were breeding, and I found young about a week old on the 

 13th of April, and the dozen or more sets of eggs obtained vaiied from 

 being fresh to being about ready to hatch. This is probably the nor- 

 mal breeding season, as these birds had not been disturbed by any one 

 before. Only one set of young was found out of the twentv-five burrows 

 exainined. There were five fledglings in this family. 



The burrows were generally about eight feet in length, always bent 

 and twisted in their course, but rarely more than eighteen inches, or at 

 the most two feet, below the surface. The situation of a burrow was always 

 high, dry ground, and where there was some considerable growth of a 

 kind of huckleberry. I can make no generalization as to the course or 

 trend of these burrows from the data gathered in excavating them. No 

 point of the compass seemed to be preferred, and while all of them turned 

 from the course originally started, some bent much more than others. 

 One burrow started in a course that formed an almost complete circle, so 

 that the nest in which it terminated was close to and just to one side of 

 the entrance. At the mouth of the burrow was a mound of sand very 

 like that at the mouth of the hole of the prairie dog of the Plains. Seven 

 was the highest number of eggs found in a set, six were found in several in- 

 stances, but five seems to be the average number. Judging from aban- 

 doned burrows, they are used but a single season, and the birds undoubt- 

 edly excavate them themselves. Though the sloughs cut in places consid- 

 erable gullies, with banks of sand more or less abrupt, I found no bur- 

 rows in such situations, nor on the edges of or near to the ' cabbage 

 islands.' There was little attempt at nest-making in the chamber in 

 which the burrow terminated, but generally much trash, dry grass, and 

 cow dung, was found just in the mouth of the burrow, and some of this 

 material was frequently found in the nesting chamber. 



The male bird sat at the mouth of the burrow on most occasions, the 

 mate usually joining him on his becoming alarmed. In four cases the 

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