THE BURROWING OWL. 171 



you were to pocket when you got to the chamber 

 at the end of the tunnel, it might be six, and it 

 might be ten, and it might not be any at all, if the 

 rattlers had been there before you. 



The ground-owl family have no fear of cold or 

 storm. They run far back to the extreme end of 

 their dwelling, and cuddle together until the 

 storm is past, waiting several days, if snowed 

 under, before digging their way to the light. 



It is supposed that mice and lizards and insects 

 also see the storm coming, and take refuge in the 

 same chambers with the owls. On this account 

 do the owls have a good store of food for their 

 rainy day. The first lizard or mouse caught in 

 the act of tickling an owl's yellow feet is break- 

 fasted upon, without hesitation on the part of the 

 owl. Is he not a meat-eating animal by nature? 

 And the mice and lizards should learn a lesson by. 

 the example of their comrades, who never are 

 seen, after once entering a ground-owl's chamber. 



Burrowing owls have been accused of loving 

 the company of the gophers and squirrels and 

 prairie-dogs for the purpose of eating up the 

 young ones. By a careful examination of their 

 stomachs it has been proved that ground-owls 

 live mainly upon mice and lizards and small in- 

 sects. As for rattlesnakes, if one of these ground 



