SPEOTYTO CUNICULARIA. 



55 



being often littered with excrements, green beetle-shells, pellets of hair 

 and bones, feathers of birds, hind quarters of frogs in all stages of decay, 

 great hairy spiders (My gale), remains of half-eaten snakes, and other 

 unpleasant creatures that they subsist on. But all this carrion about 

 the little Owl's disordered house reminds one forcibly of the important 

 part the bird plays in the economy of nature. The young birds ascend 

 to the entrance of the burrow to bask in the sun, and receive the food 

 their parents bring ; when approached they become irritated, snapping 

 with their beaks, and retreat reluctantly into the hole ; and for some 

 weeks after leaving it they make it a refuge from danger. Old and 

 young birds sometimes live together for four or five months. I believe 

 that nine-tenths of the Owls on the pampas make their own burrows, 

 but as they occasionally take possession of the forsaken holes of mam- 

 mals to breed in, it is probable that they would always observe this last 

 habit, if suitable holes abounded, as on the North-American prairies 

 inhabited by the marmot. Probably our Burrowing-Owl originally 

 acquired the habit of breeding in the ground in the open level regions 

 it frequented ; and when this habit (favourable as it must have been in 

 such unsheltered situations) had become ineradicable, a want of suitable 

 burrows would lead it to clean out such old ones as had become choked 

 up with rubbish, to deepen such as were too shallow, and ultimately to 

 excavate for itself. The mining instinct varies greatly in strength, 

 even on the pampas. Some pairs, long mated, only begin to dig when 

 the breeding-season is already on them ; others make their burrows as 

 early as April that is six months before the breeding-season. Gene- 

 rally both birds work, one standing by and regarding operations with 

 an aspect of grave interest, and taking its place in the pit when the 

 other retires ; but sometimes the female has no assistance from her 

 partner ; and the burrow then is very short. Some pairs work expe- 

 ditiously and their kennel is deep and neatly made; others go about 

 their task in a perfunctory manner, and begin, only to abandon, perhaps 

 half a dozen burrows, and then rest two or three weeks from their 

 unprofitable labours. But whether industrious or indolent, by Sep- 

 tember they all have their burrows made. 1 can only account for 

 Azara's unfortunate statement, repeated since by scores of compilers, 

 that the Owl never constructs its own habitations, by assuming that a 

 century ago, when he lived and the country was still very sparsely 

 settled, this Owl had not yet become so abundant or laid aside the 

 wary habit the aborigines had taught it, so that he did not become very 

 familiar with its habits. 



