7O6 PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS : ZOOLOGY. 



burrows to such an amazing depth in the earth, that only the incomparable 

 zeal and industry of Fuielle himself has enabled us to know the nesting 

 habits of the bird. 



"Fuielle's profound investigations resulted in the discovery that the 

 eggs of the burrowing owl are speckled!" 



In his Naturalist in La Plata (pp. 298-299) the same author writes: 

 "Standing on the mound there is frequently a pair of burrowing owls 

 (Pholeoptynx cunicularia}. These birds generally make their own bur- 

 rows to breed in, or sometimes take possession of one of the lesser out- 

 side burrows of the village ; but their favourite residence, when not engaged 

 in tending their eggs or young, is on the vizcachera. Here a pair will 

 sit all day ; and I have often remarked a couple close together on the 

 edge of the burrow; and when the vizcacha came out in the evening, 

 though but a hand's breadth from them, they did not stir, nor did he 

 notice them, so accustomed are these creatures to each other. Usually a 

 couple of the little burrowing Geositta are also present. They are lively 

 creatures, running with great rapidity about the mound and bare space 

 that surrounds it, suddenly stopping and jerking their tails in a slow 

 deliberate manner, and occasionally uttering their cry, a trill or series of 

 quick short clear notes, resembling somewhat the shrill excessive laughter 

 of a child. Among the grave, stationary vizcachas, of which they take no 

 heed, perhaps half a dozen or more little swallows (Atticora cyanoleuca) 

 are seen, now clinging together to the bank-like entrance of a burrow, 

 now hovering over it in a mothlike manner, as if uncertain where to 

 alight, and anon sweeping about in circles, but never ceasing their low 

 and sorrowful notes." (Huds. Natur. La Plata, 1892, pp. 298-299.) 



And (pp. 66-67): "By August (1873) the owls had vanished, and they 

 had, indeed, good cause for leaving. The winter had been one of con- 

 tinued drought ; the dry grass and herbage of the preceding year had been 

 consumed by the cattle and wild animals, or had turned to dust, and with 

 the disappearance of their food and cover the mice had ceased to be. The 

 famine-stricken cats sneaked back to the house. It was pitiful to see the 

 little burrowing owls ; for these birds, not having the powerful wings and 

 prescient instincts of the vagrant Otus brachyotus, are compelled to face 

 the poverty from which the others escape. Just as abundance had before 

 made the domestic cats wild, scarcity now made the burrowing owls tame 

 and fearless of man. They were so reduced as scarcely to be able to fly, 



