THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



151 



1 wish to state a t'cw fads about the Bur- 

 rowing Owl {Athene cunicularia Molina) that 

 lives in Calit'oiuia. I had almost constantly 

 for four years opportunities of observing the 

 habits ot this little owl, which is really one of 

 the most notable features in the natural his- 

 tory of California. A colony of these owls 

 lived within one hundred yards of my cabin 

 while I passed a frontier life ; and they were 

 very common everywhere in that vicinity. I 

 have seen them every day for years, hundreds 

 and perhaps thousands of them in all. Where 

 I hav*- seen them, they always live in the 

 deserted or unoccupied burrows of the Ground 

 Stiuirrel {Si)crmryphiliis Beecheyi). I came to 

 the conclusion that they were able to drive 

 out the Spermophilas from their habitations, 

 but I am not certain of the fact. It is true 

 that there were, in that region, always a large 

 immber of unoccupied burrows wherever there 

 was a colony of .Spermophiles ; so that there 

 was no lack ot unoccupied habitations for the 

 owls to take possession of. But I have 

 noticed that wherever there was a large num- 

 ber of the owls, very few or no Spermophiles 

 lived. One or two owls would occasionally 

 be seen among a colony of Spermophiles, but 

 they never appeared to live in the same hole 

 or burrow with the squirrel ; and I liave 

 never seen a squirrel enter a burrow that was 

 occupied by owls, however much tempted by 

 fear he might be to enter the first hole he 

 could come to. True, the Spermophile never 

 likes to enter any burrow but his own, and 

 will run pawt any number of inviting en- 

 trances in order tliat he may at last hide 

 himself in his own domicile. But aside from 

 this, I believe that the squirrels are afraid of 

 the owls, and do not dare to intrude upon 

 them. The notion that the Athene digs its 

 own burrow appears to me apocryplial and 

 unreasonable. I have never seen any evidence 

 of it. Negative evidence proves nothing ; 

 but yet the absence of facts is strong pre- 

 sumption against their existence, and it would 

 be strange that I should never have seen any 

 evidence of their digging powers if they have 

 any. After a shower of rain, one sees fresh 

 earth thrown out around the mouths of the 

 burrows of the Spermophiles, but never any- 

 thing of the kind around the burrows of the 

 owls. They are not constituted for digging, 

 and there is no necessity for it ; they can al- 

 ways find any number of holes ready-made for 

 them. That they live in peace and amity 

 with the rattlesnake, I believe to be another 

 error and stretch of the imagination. Kattle- 

 snakes are very abundant where 1 lived, and 

 I killed one or two almost every time that I 

 rode a mile or more from the house, yet I 

 never saw a rattlesnake near a squirrel's hole 

 but once, and that hole was a deserted one. I 

 once found a large rattlesnake swallowing a 

 squirrel (Spermophilus Beccheyi) that it had 

 caught, in the centre of a colony of .squirrels, 

 but several yards distant from any " squirrel- 

 hole. " 



1 once took pains to dig out a nest of the 

 Athene cunicularia. 1 lound that the burrow 

 was about four feet long, and the nest was 

 only about two feet from the surface of the 

 ground. The nest was made in a cavity in 

 the graund, of about a foot in diameter, well 



tilled in with dry soft liorsedung, bits of an 

 old blanket, and fur of a Coyotte (Cants 

 latrans) that 1 had killed a few days before. 

 One of tlie parent birds (male or female V) was 

 in the nest, and I captured it. It had no in- 

 tention of leaving the nest, even when entire- 

 ly uncovered by the shovel, and exposed to 

 the open air. It fought bravely with beak 

 and claws. I found seven young ones, per- 

 haps eight or ten days old, well covered with 

 down, but without any feathers. The whole 

 nest, as well as the birds (old and young), 

 swarmed with fleas. It was the filthiest nest 

 that I ever saw. In the passage leading to 

 the nest there were small scraps of dead ani- 

 mals ; such as pieces of the skin of the ante- 

 lope, half dried and half putrified, the skin of 

 the coyote, etc.; and near the nest were the 

 remains of a snake that I had killed two days 

 before, a large Coluber ? two feet long. The 

 birds had begun at the snake's head, and had 

 pecked off the flesli clean from the vertebne 

 and ribs for about one-half of its length ; the 

 other half of the snake was entire. The ma- 

 terial on which the young birds nested was at 

 least three inches in depth. I do not remem- 

 ber the time of the year. 



The Burrowing Owls do not migrate. 

 Where I lived they were as numerous in win- 

 ter as in summer. Perhaps in low, flat jdains, 

 that are deluged or inundated by water in the 

 winter, the little owl is obliged to have a far 

 drier location, but I have never seen any such 

 migration. They always remain in or near 

 their burrows through the day, never leaving 

 them to go any distance except when dis- 

 turbed, when they make a short crooked 

 flight to some other hole near by, and when 

 driven from this last one return to the first 

 again. When the sun sets they sally forth to 

 hunt for food, etc., and are all night on the 

 wing. 1 had seen them and heard them at all 

 times of the night and early in the morning. 

 They are not strictly nocturnal, for they do 

 not remain in their nests or burrows all day, 

 but their habits, in this respect, are about the 

 same as those of the other owls, as Strix pra- 

 tincola, iiyctea nirea, etc., or of the domestic 

 cat. There are very few birds that carry 

 more rubbish into the nest than the Athoxe; 

 and even the vultures are not much more 

 filthy. 1 am satisfied that the Athene canicu- 

 laria lays a larger number of eggs than is at- 

 tributed to it in Dr. Brewer's work. I have 

 frequently seen, late in the season, six, seven 

 or eight, young birds standing around the 

 mouth of a burrow, isolated from others in 

 such a manner that I could not suppose that 

 they belonged to two or more families, — 

 Americdn Naturalist. 



OUTLOOK OF THE CROPS. 



The Department of Agriculture, in Wash- 

 ington, reports that the condition of cotton 

 on the first of September was lower than on 

 the 1st of August by reason of drought, 

 which was severest in Texas, yet felt in every 

 State east and north to North Carolina. The 

 apprehension that too succulent early growth 

 would wilt under higher temperature and ab- 

 sence of rain has been realized too generally. 

 Local areas on the Atlantic coast appear to 

 have had suflicient moisture ; at a few points 

 too much on low lands. The effect of these 

 meteorological changes has been the wide 



prevalence of rust and the shedding of leaves 

 and young bolls. In light soils the fruiting 

 will be hastened, the top bolls already form- 

 ing. In those of greater moisture there is a 

 strong weed, and with deferred frosts a good 

 crop may be made. There are a few losses 

 by the caterpillar. When it has appeared it 

 was promptly met by poisonous applications 

 as a rule. The bollworm has been more 

 abundant than usual, and has not had treat- 

 ment suflicient prompt. The average condi- 

 tion for the whole field, which was 87 in the 

 preceding report, is reduced to 82, though 

 Texas is the only State below that arerage. 



The product of winter wheat is above the 

 average, and is generally of good quality, ex- 

 cept where injured by sprouting in the shock. 

 The rate of yield is not far from an average of 

 13 bushels per acre. The results of the har- 

 vest of spring wheat are not yet complete, 

 and yet the product cannot be precisely indi- 

 cated. It is probable from the reported con- 

 dition of the crop already harvested and 

 threshed that the aggregate will vary little 

 from 500,000,000 bushels. The reports of 

 much higher figures are sensational and mis- 

 leading, and utterly unworthy of credence. 

 The general average condition when harvest- 

 ed is 98, against 83 last year. The wheat 

 States of highest condition are California, 

 Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ken- 

 tucky, Tennessee and Oregon. 



The corn crop is in better condition than in 

 any September since 1880. The general aver- 

 age is 04. It was 84 last September. It pro- 

 mises to produce an average yield of 26 

 bushels for the entire breadth, or not less than 

 1,800,000,000 bushels. It will make the larg- 

 est aggregate of quantity ever reported in the 

 history of the country. 



The oats crop averages a yield per acre 

 about the same as corn and makes an aggre- 

 gate exceeding 500,000,000 bushels. Its con- 

 dition when harvested was 05, which is lower 

 than for two previous years, but higher than 

 for prior years since 1878. 



Barley »verages 97, against 100 last year 

 and 95 in 1882. It will average about •22 

 bushels per acre. 



The general average for rye is 90, and for 

 buckwheat 93. which indicates a medium crop 

 of about 12 bushels per acre. 



The condition of potatoes averages 91, 

 against 95 last year. It will be an abundant 

 crop, but not so large as the last. There is 

 some complaint of rot in New England and a 

 little in New York. There is a wide range 

 of condition, running down to .52 in Ohio, 

 while it is 94 in Michigan, the same in Penn- 

 sylvania and 80 in New York. There is a 

 fine crop west of the Mississippi. 



The condition of tobacco is higher than in 

 September of any year since 1881. It averages 



94 instead of 80 last September. Massachu- 

 setts, 105 ; Connecticut, 103 ; New York, 98 ; 

 Pennsylvania, 99 ; Wisconsin, 100. The cigar 

 tobacco thus stands comparatively high. 

 Maryland, 91 ; Virginia, 94 ; North Carolina, 



95 ; Kentucky, 95 ; Tennessee, 105; Ohio, 63. 

 The London agent of the Department 



cables to-day as a result of statistical investi- 

 gations that the year will not be one of super- 

 abundance ; that European wheat, though 

 above an average in product, will be less than 

 the aggregate of 1882. European importing 



