308 MR. W. H. HUDSON ON THE BURROWING OWL. [May 19, 



1. On the Habits of the Burrowing Owl (Pholeoptynx cuni- 

 cularia). By W. H. Hudson, C.M.Z.S. 



[Eeceived April 20, 1874.] 



The Burrowing Owl is abundant everywhere on the open level 

 pampas of the Argentine Republic, and avoids woods but not districts 

 abounding in scattered trees and bushes. 



It sees better than other Owls by day, and never affects conceal- 

 ment, nor appears molested by diurnal sounds and the glare of noon. 

 When a person passes near one it stares fixedly at him, following 

 him with the eyes, the round head turning about as on a pivot. If 

 closely approached, it drops its body in a somewhat playful fasbion, 

 emitting a brief scream, followed by three abrupt ejaculations — and 

 if made to fly, goes but fifteen or twenty yards off, and alights again 

 with face towards the intruder ; and no sooner does it alight than it 

 repeats the gesture and scream, standing stiff and erect, and appearing 

 beyond measure astonished at the intrusion. By day it flies near the 

 surface with wings continuously flapping, and seldom goes far, and 

 invariably before alighting glides suddenly upwards for some distance 

 and comes down abruptly. It frequently runs rapidly on the ground, 

 and is incapable of sustaining flight long. Gaucho boys pursue 

 them for sport on horseback, taking them in fifteen or twenty minutes. 

 They live in pairs all the year, and sit by day at the mouth of the 

 burrow or on the Vizcacha's mound, the two birds so close together 

 as to be almost touching ; when alarmed they both fly away, but 

 sometimes the male only, the female diving into the burrow. Their 

 sitting on the ground may be more from necessity than choice, as 

 they usually perch on the summits of bushes where such abound. 



These are the commonest traits of the Burrowing- Owl in the 

 settled regions, where it is excessively numerous and familiar with 

 man ; but in the regions hunted over by the Indians it is scarce, 

 and in some of its habits quite a different bird. Shy of approach as 

 a persecuted game-fowl, it rises to a considerable height in the air 

 when the approaching traveller is yet far off, and flies often beyond 

 sight before descending again to the earth. This wildness of dis- 

 position is, without doubt, traceable to the active animosity of the 

 pampa tribes, who have all the ancient wide-spread superstitions 

 regarding the Owl. Sister of the Evil Spirit is one of their names 

 for it. They hunt it to death whenever they can, and, when tra- 

 velling, will not stop to rest or encamp on the spot where an Owl has 

 been seen. As soon as the plains are settled by whites, the bird 

 drops this wary habit, and becomes exceedingly tame. They are also 

 tenacious of the spot they live in, and are not, like the Pipit and 

 Spurred Lapwing, driven out by cultivation. When the fields are 

 ploughed up, they burrow on the borders of the ditches, and sit on the 

 wayside fences, and are so tame that a rider can easily knock them 

 down with his whip. Several pairs live near my house ; and when a 

 person rides up to within three or four yards of a burrow the birds 

 only snap and hiss and ruffle up their feathers, refusing to fly away. 



