HMDS. 



527 



Fig. 435. — Screech-owl (Scops asio). 



presentation of a mass of facts uninteresting to any but the professional 

 ornithologist. There are, however, one or two which possess sufficient 

 individuality to make them 

 noticeable here. First are 

 the pigmy-owls, one of which 

 is shown in the right of Fig- 

 ure 434. With one or two 

 exceptions it is the smallest 

 of the owls, measuring but 

 about seven inches in length. 

 It is one of the most diur- 

 nal members of the group of 

 owls. Then there is the great 

 snowy-owl, which every few 

 winters comes down from the 

 north in considerable num- 

 bers, seemingly for the sole 

 purpose of offering themselves 

 as sacrifices on the bench of 

 the taxidermist. 



The burrowing-owl of our 

 western territories needs more mention. On page 389 will be found a 

 quotation from the pages of Dr. Coues as to the happy family formed by 

 the rattlesnake, the jDrairie-dog, and this absurd-looking, long-legged owl. 

 There is no use of re- 

 peating the refutation 

 of the time-worn story 

 of how these animals 

 live together in a most 

 perfect accord. They 

 do nothing of the kind : 

 the owl selects the bur- 

 rows of the prairie-dog 

 merely because they fur- 

 nish eligible homes, and 

 frequently both owl and 

 dog will occupy the same 

 burrow. Still far more 

 frequently the owls will be found in a part of the village deserted by the 

 clogs, and it is not impossible that the former have evicted the rightful 

 tenants. 



Fig. 43G. — Burrowing-owl (Speotyto cunicularia). 



