

SPEOTYTO CUNICULARIA. 53 



or twenty minutes. They live in pairs all the year, and sit by day at 

 the mouth of their burrow or on the Vizcacha's mound, the two birds so 

 close together as to be almost touching; when alarmed they both fly 

 away, but sometimes the male only, the female diving into the burrow. 

 On the pampas it may be more from necessity than choice that they 

 always sit on the ground, as they are usually seen perched on the 

 summits of bushes where such abound, as in Patagonia. 



These are the commonest traits of the Burrowing-Owl in the settled 

 districts, where it is excessively numerous and has become familiar with 

 man ; but in the regions hunted over by the Indians it is a scarce bird 

 and has different habits. Shy of approach as a persecuted game fowl, 

 it rises to a considerable height in the air when the approaching traveller 

 is yet far off, atid flies often beyond sight before descending again to the 

 earth. This wildness of disposition is, without doubt, due to the active 

 animosity of the pampas-tribes, who have all the ancient wide-spread 

 superstitions regarding the Owl. Sister of the Evil Spirit is one of 

 their names for it ; they hunt it to death whenever they can, and when 

 travelling will not stop to rest or encamp on a spot where an Owl has 

 been spied. Where the country is settled by Europeans the bird has 

 dropped its wary habits and become extremely tame. They are tena- 

 cious of the spot they live in, and are not easily driven out by culti- 

 vation. When the fields are ploughed up they make their kennels on 

 their borders, or at the roadsides, and sit all day perched on the posts of 

 the fences. 



Occasionally they are seen preying by day, especially when anything 

 passes near them, offering the chance of an easy capture. I have often 

 amused myself by throwing bits of hard clay near one as it sat beside its 

 kennel ; for the bird will immediately give chase, only discovering its 

 mistake when the object is firmly clutched in its talons. When there 

 are young to be fed, they are almost as active by day as by night. On 

 hot November days multitudes of a large species of Scarabteus appear, 

 and the bulky bodies and noisy bungling flights of these beetles invite 

 the Owls to pursuit, and on every side they are seen pursuing and 

 striking down the beetles, and tumbling upon them in the grass. Owls 

 have a peculiar manner of taking their prey : they grapple it so tightly 

 in their talons that they totter and strive to steady themselves by 

 throwing out their wings, and, sometimes losing their balance, fall 

 prostrate and flutter on the ground. If the animal captured be small 

 they proceed after a while to dispatch it with the beak ; if large they 

 usually rise laboriously from the ground and fly to some distance with 

 it, thus giving time lor the wounds inflicted by the claws to do their 

 work. 



