BIRDS OF KANSAS 119 



at the cud of which lie found an enlarged chamber, where 

 the eggs were deposited on a few feathers. In his inter- 

 esting note in the American Naturalist, Dr. C. S. Canfield 

 gives a more explicit account of the nesting : ' I once took 

 pains to dig out a nest of the Athene cunicularia. I found 

 that the burrow was about four feet long, and the nest 

 was only about two feet from the surface of the ground. 

 The nest was made in a cavity of the ground of about a 

 foot in diameter, well filled with dry, soft horse dung, bits 

 of old blanket, and fur of a coyote (Canis latrans) that I' 

 had killed a few days before. One of the parent birds was 

 on the nest, and I captured it. It had no intention of 

 leaving the nest, even when entirely uncovered with the 

 shovel and exposed to the open air. It fought bravely 

 with beak and claws. I found seven young ones, perhaps 

 eight or ten days old, well covered with down, but without 

 any feathers. The whole nest, as well as the birds (old 

 and young), swarmed with fleas. It was the filthiest nest 

 T ever saw. In the passage leading to it there were small 

 scraps of dead animals, such as pieces of the skin of the 

 antelope, half dried and half putrified, the skin of the 

 coyote, etc. ; and near the nest were the remains of a snake 

 that I had killed two days before, a large Coluber, two feet 

 long. The birds had. begun at the snake's head and had 

 picked off the flesh clean from the vertebra and ribs for 

 about one-half its length ; the other half of the snake was 

 entire. The material on which the young birds rested was 

 at least three inches deep. There are very few birds that 

 carry more rubbish into their nests than the Athene; and 

 even the Vultures are not much more filthy. I am satisfied 

 that the A. cunicularia lays a larger number of eggs than 



