HA WK-OWLS BURRO WING-OWLS. 323 



or on a ledge of a bank, and it lays six or eight white eggs. Sometimes as 

 many as ten are found in a nest, and they are generally laid at intervals, 

 so that young of all sizes are to be met with, and there can be no doubt that 

 the warmth of the downy young, which are first hatched, contributes to the 

 hatching of the eggs laid later on. 



From its long tail and short wings, as well as from its barred under- 

 surface, this Owl bears considerable resemblance to a Hawk, whence its 

 popular name. The soft plumage and the noiseless flight, 

 however, distinguish it as an Owl at once. It is a diurnal The Hawk-Owl 

 bird in its habits, like the Snowy-Owl, and is often seen (/Surma ulula). 

 sitting on the top of a tree on the lookout for its prey. 

 It is also a very courageous bird, and will often attack anyone who attempts 

 to rob its nest. The latter is placed in a tree, either in a cavity or in old 

 nests among the branches. The eggs are white, and vary in number from 

 four to eight. As with the Snowy-Owl, they are laid at intervals, and are 

 found in various stages of incubation. 



In the Old World are found the group of Little Owls (Carine) and the 

 Brown Hawk-Owls (Ninox), and these are replaced in America by the 

 curious Burrowing-Owls. These little birds associate 

 with the prairie-dogs, and their eggs have been found at The Burrowing- 

 a distance of 10 ft. from the mouth of the burrow, Owls. Genus 

 which is seldom made 'by the birds themselves. It has Speotyto. 



often been recounted how the Owls and the prairie-dogs 

 live in harmony together, and, as Professor Elliot Coues says, " the case is 

 further complicated by the introduction of the rattlesnakes." And no little 

 pure bosh is in type respecting the harmonious and confidential relations 

 imagined to subsist between the trio, which, like the " happy family" of 

 Barnum, lead Utopian existences. He disposes of the myth as follows : 

 " First, as to the reptiles, it may be observed that they are, like other rattle- 

 snakes, dangerous, venomous creatures. They have no business in the 

 burrows, and are after no good when they do enter. They wriggle into the 

 holes partly because there is no other place for them to crawl into on the 

 bare, flat plain, and partly in search of Owl's eggs, owlets, and puppies to 

 eat. Next, the Owls are simply attracted to the villages of the prairie-dogs 

 as the most convenient places for shelter and nidification, where they find 

 eligible, ready-made burrows, and are spared the trouble of digging for 

 themselves. Community of interest makes them gregarious to an extent 

 unusual among rapacious birds, while the exigencies of life in the plains casts 

 their lot with the rodents. That the Owls live at ease in the settlements 

 and on familiar terms with their four-footed neighbours is an undoubted 

 fact, but that they inhabit the same burrows, or have any intimate domestic 

 relations, is quite another thing. It is no proof that the quadrupeds and the 

 birds live together that they are so often seen to scuttle at each other's heels 

 into the same hole when alarmed, for in such case the two simply seek the 

 nearest shelter independently of each other. The probability is that young 

 prairie-dogs often furnish a meal to the Owls, and that, in return, the latter 

 are often robbed of their eggs ; while certainly the young of both and the 

 Owl's eggs are eaten by the snakes." The principal food of the Burrowing- 

 Owl consists of insects, and they devour large numbers of locusts and grass- 

 hoppers, though the birds also eat a great many rodents ; and at times a 

 great quantity of food has been found stored up in their burrows. 



These little Owls are scarcely bigger than Sparrows, and none of them 



