STRIC.I D.K — THE OWLS. 



03 



Spfotifto hifpnsfrn. 



between tlie Pacific coast ami the Mississijipi Jiiver, especially in the lower 



plains in Nebraska and in Kansas, as well as in parti(nilar districts in Utah, 



Arkansas, New ^lexico, the Indian Territory, Texas, Arizona, California, and 



^^exico. They are usually very abundant, congreyatiny together in large 



connnunities, and 



dillerinu; I'roni must , VJijS^S' "na f«Ss"''^ 



members ot their 



family by living and 



breeding in burrows 



inthe ground. Their 



habits are jjcculiar 



and interesting. 



Thomas Say, dur- 

 ing Colonel Long's 

 expedition to the 

 Rocky Mountains, 

 was the first of 

 American natural- 

 ists to meet with 

 this bird. Ho encountered it in our trans-Mississippian Temtories, where 

 he described it as residing exclusively in the villages of the ])rairie-dog, 

 whose excavations are so commodious as to make it unnecessary for the 

 bird to dig for itself, which it is alilo to do when occasion requires. These 

 villages are very numerous, and variable in their extent, sometimes cover- 

 ing only a few acres, and at others spreading over the surface of the coun- 

 try for miles together. They are composed of slightly elevated mounds, 

 having the form of a truncated cone, about two feet in width at base, and 

 seldom rising ixs high as eighteen inches above the surface. The entrance 

 is at the toj) or on the side. From the entrance the jiassage descends 

 vertically one or two feet, and thence it contiiuu's obli(|Ut'ly downward 

 until it terminates in the snug apartment where these animals enjoy their 

 winter's sleep, and where they and the Owls are common, l)ut unfriendly, 

 occupants. 



Mr. Dresser noticed this bird at all st'asons, in the prairi<! country of 

 Texas. They were rather common near the Ifio Imow and Medina, and 

 in one ])lace he found they hid taken possession of some deserted rat-holes. 

 He obtained several specimens near San Antonio and at Kagle Pass. In the 

 latter place he found them (juite conmion on the sand plains near the town. 

 The stomachs of those he shot were fouml to contain coleopterous insects 

 and field-mice. 



Dr. Newl)erry states that he found this sjiecies in Northern California, in 

 several places between San Francisco and Fort Peading, and again at the 

 Klamath Basin, though less freiiuently at the northward than in the Sacra- 

 mento Valley. There they occupied the burrows made by the Peechey's 



