52 BUBONID^. 



woody paths by night. It breeds in deep woods, and lays three white 

 eggs in a hollow tree without any nest. 



Barrows found it common in Corrientes along the wooded water- 

 courses, and says it has a soft tremulous cry. He tells us there are 

 two varieties of it in colour, red and grey, and gives Cabure as the 

 native name. 



290. SPEOTYTO CUNICULAEIA (MoU 

 (BUJRROWING-OWL.) 



Athene cunicularia, Darwin, Zool. Beagk, iii. p. 31. Noctua cunicularia, 

 Burm. La-Plata Reise, ii. p. 440 j Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 38, et 1878, p. 397 

 (Patagonia). Pholeoptynx cunicularia, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl. p. 117; 

 Hudson, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 308 (Buenos Ayres) j Durnford, Ibis, 1877, p. 186 

 (Buenos Ayres) ; Gibson, Ibis, 1879, p. 423 (Buenos Ayres) ; White, P. Z. S. 

 1882, p. 622 (Catamarca, Misiones). Speotyto cunicularia, Sharpe, Cat. 

 B. ii. p. 142 ; Barroivs, Auk, 1884, p. 30 (Entrerios) ; Withington, Ibis, 1888, 

 p. 469 (Lomas de Zamora). 



Description. Above dark sandy brown, with large oval spots of white and 

 smaller spots and freckles of pale brown ; wings and tail dark brown, with 

 broad whitish cross bars ; facial disk greyish brown, surrounded by white : 

 beneath white, sides of breast marked with broad bars of brown, which become 

 fainter on the belly ; lower belly, thighs, and crissum pure white ; tarsi 

 feathered ; toes slightly bristled : whole length lO'O inches, wing 7'5, tail 3'5. 

 Female similar, but rather larger. 



Hob. North and South America. 



The Burrowing-Owl is abundant everywhere on the pampas of 

 Buenos Ayres and avoids woods, but not districts abounding in scat- 

 tered trees and bushes. It sees much better than most Owls by day, 

 and never affects concealment nor appears confused by diurnal sounds 

 and the glare of noon. It stares fixedly " with insolence/' Azara 

 says at a passer-by, following him with the eyes, the round head 

 turning about as on a pivot. If closely approached it drops its body or 

 ^bobs in a curious fashion, emitting a brief scream, followed by three 

 abrupt ejaculations ; and if made to fly goes only fifteen or twenty 

 yards away, and alights again with face towards the intruder; and_no 

 sooner does it alight than it repeats the odd gesture and scream, 

 standing stiff and erect, and appearing beyond measure astonished at 

 the intrusion. By day it flies near the surface with wings continuously 

 flapping, and invariably before alighting glides upwards for some dis- 

 tance and comes down very abruptly. It frequently runs rapidly on the 

 ground, and is incapable of sustaining flight long. Gaucho boys pursue 

 these birds for sport on horseback, taking them after a chase of fifteen 



