322 HISTORY OF CALIFORNIA. 



at the top or on the side, and the whole mound is beat- 

 en down externally, especially at the summit, re- 

 sembling a much-used footpath. 



" From the entrance, the passage into the mound 

 descends vertically for one or two feet, and is thence 

 continued obliquely downwards, until it terminates in 

 an apartment, within which the industrious marmot 

 constructs, on the approach of the cold season, a com- 

 fortable cell for his winter's sleep. This cell, which 

 is composed of fine dry grass, is globular in form, 

 with an opening at top capable of admitting the fin- 

 ger ; and the whole is so firmly compacted, that it 

 might, without injury, be rolled over the floor. 



" In all the prairie-dog villages the Burrowing 

 Owl is seen moving briskly about, or else in small 

 flocks scattered among the mounds, and at a distance 

 it may be mistaken for the marmot itself when sit- 

 ting erect. They manifest but little timidity, and 

 allow themselves to be approached sufficiently close 

 for shooting ; but if alarmed, some or all of them 

 soar away or settle down again at a short distance ; 

 if further disturbed, their flight is continued until 

 they are no longer in view, or they descend into their 

 dwellings, whence they are difficult to dislodge. 



" The burrows into which these Owls have been 

 seen to descend, on the plains of the River Platte (a 

 tributary to the Missouri), where they are most nume- 

 rous, were evidently excavated either by the mar- 

 mot, whence it has been inferred by Say that they 

 were common though unfriendly residents of the same 

 habitation, or that our Owl was the sole occupant of 

 a burrow acquired by the right of conquest. That 

 the latter idea is correct was clearly presented by the 

 ruinous condition of the burrows tenanted by the Owl, 



