680 



BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



bluish than the latter, whilst their bills, black-tipped, were horn-blue 

 throughout, the Kansas variety grading to ashy-white at the base. 



STRIGID^. 



Brachyotus palustris, Auct. — Short-eared Oid. 



McOlellan Creek and other streams, in their well-wooded parts, with 

 marshy banks and here and there large pools, the delight of the butfalo, 

 possess their quota of inhabitants of the Strigidce. The specimen secured 

 was shot in a grove immediately by the camp, and being brought in not 

 quite dead and shown to one of the captiv^e Falcons {F. mexicanus) kept 

 as pets, they at once engaged in a combat, and could not be separated 

 until the last breath of the Owl had loosened her grip. 



? Syrnium nebulosum, (Forst.) Boie. — Barred Oicl. 



This specimen was secured in one of the deeply- shaded groves along 

 Lower McOlellan Creek, sitting lengthwise upon a great high limb. 

 None were noticed at any headwaters of streams, which point they 

 doubtless never frequent, owing to the smaller size of the timber. 



Speotyto cunicularia hypog^a, (Bp.) Coues. — Burrowing Owl. 



Both upon the great plain itself and on the rolling prairies from Dodge, 

 Kansas, to the south, up to its edge, scarcely a town of Prairie Dogs ( G. lu- 



