118 TWENTIETH CENTURY CLASSICS 



notable exception to the general rule of arboricole habits 

 in this family, being especially fitted by their conformation 

 for the subterranean mode of life for which they are de- 

 signed, and are furthermore exceptional in their gregarious 

 disposition, here carried to the extreme. The diffusion of 

 the species in the West is so general that there is little 

 occasion to mention particular localities. 



" The Owls are by no means confined to the dog towns, 

 nor even to the similar communities of other gregarious 

 spermophiles. They sometimes occupy the underground 

 dens of wolves, foxes and badgers. In South America, 

 the representative race lives among the bizcachas (Lagos- 

 tomus tzichodactylus) that inhabit the Pampas. On some 

 occasions the birds have been found alone, residing appar- 

 ently in burrows excavated by themselves, as already 

 stated. They are by no means nocturnal ; able to endure 

 the sunlight without inconvenience, they may be observed 

 abroad at all hours. It has been stated that in autumn, 

 at the approach of cold weather, they retire into their bur- 

 rows to hibernate a fable matching the one that ascribes 

 to Swallows the habit of diving into the mud to pass the 

 winter in repose along with torpid frogs. In most locali- 

 ties the birds are abroad the year round; their disappear- 

 ance in inclement regions is accomplished, if at all, by 

 ordinary migration. In California I saw them, bright and 

 lively as crickets, in November. 



" I never undertook to unearth the nest of a Burrowing 

 Owl, but others have been more zealous in the pursuit of 

 knowledge under difficulties. Dr. Cooper says that he once 

 dug two fresh eggs out of a burrow, which he followed down 

 for three feet, and then traced for five feet horizontally, 



