42 



The Avifauna. 



The Burrowing Owl. 



THE Burrowing Owl (Athene ciinicidaria) 

 is quite common in that portion of Cal- 

 ifornia north of Monterey and west of the 

 Sierras. In all the valleys that have be- 

 come the home of that pest of the Califor- 

 nia ranch owner, the ground Squirrel {Sper- 

 morpJiilus BeecJieyi), this Owl is a joint 

 occupant, sitting throughout the day on a 

 little mound of earth at the entrance of a 

 deserted burrow in delightful companion- 

 ship with his four-footed neighbor, not in 

 the least dazzled by the brightness of tne 

 sun, and allowing a person to approach 

 quite near, and greeting him, with repeated 

 polite bows, and giving a peculiar cackling 

 note. 



If closely interviewed, he at once plunges 

 into his burrow or rapidh^ flies to another 

 not far away. 



It has been known to make a burrow for 

 itself in a region where no animal had pre- 

 viously dug one. In the most northern 

 part of the State, the females prepare to 

 lay their eggs in January. During the 

 months of February and March in the early 

 part of the evening the males sit at the 

 mouth of their dwelling or on a neighbor- 

 ing fence and utter a note w^hich resembles 

 the word cuc-koo slowly spoken, with the 

 stress upon the first syllable and the last 

 long drawn out. 



The tone is soft and quite musical and 

 appears farther aw'aj^ than in reality, and 

 for that reason it is difficult to locate the 

 bird. 



An observer speaks of finding the nest 

 of this owl by following a burrow to the 

 depth of three feet, and horizontall}'^ five 

 feet, where, in an enlarged chamber, were 

 discovered two fresh eggs, somewhat smaller 

 than those of pigeons, nearly round and 

 pure white, deposited on a few feathers. 



About the end of April the young appear 

 at the mouth of their burrows, and sit in 

 the early morning with their parents. 



Their food is mice, small birds, gophers, 

 and insects, the hunting of which is done 

 in the evening, or the gray of the morning. 

 They are also particularly active on moon- 

 light nights. 



Early in July when on one of vny sketch- 

 ing excursions with carriage and tent, while 

 walking up a steep hill to relieve the horse, 

 I discovered by the roadside, in a depression 

 made by the foot of some hoofed animal, a 

 little fledgling covered only wnth a light 

 grey down. Picking it up carefulh' and 

 not knowing whether it belonged to the 

 hawk or owl famih', I went to the carriage 

 and placed it in the hands of my wife, re- 

 marking that I had brought her a strange 

 pet. She at once said, "I will keep and 

 rear it." He took kindly to his new sur- 

 roundings, nestling quietly in her lap, as 

 we pursued our journey, usually wide 

 awake. His food at this period was small 

 bits of raw beef and mutton or morsels of 

 little birds killed with my fowling piece. 

 He throve remarkably under this diet and 

 iti two weeks had nearly attained his full 

 plumage when we were no longer in doubt 

 as to his parentage. He soon began to 

 utter a soft crowing note sounding like 

 Too-Too^ with the accent on the last and 

 prolonged . This note decided a name for 

 our pet, which became Toot for short. 



When we went into camp he sat upon the 

 dash board or seat of the carriage until our 

 arrangements for the night were made, then 

 he was placed at the door of the tent and 

 he went in and out at his pleasure. At 

 this stage of his life he was very playful 

 and we were struck with the similarity of 

 his motions wnth those of a kitten . When 

 given a small roll of paper he would take it 

 in his beak, turn over on his back, scratch 

 and tear it with evident enjoyment. A 

 pastebbard roll, five inches in diameter and 

 three feet long, in which canvas had been 

 sent me, was at once adopted by him as a 

 burrow, and in this he slept as it lay beside 

 our bed, and to which he quickly retreated 



