THE AMEEICAN HAWK OWL. 395 



were very nice pets, and in the course of a few days came to recognize me 

 whenever I came to them, and always greeted me with a whistling note of 

 plaintive tone." 



The eggs of the American Hawk Owl are from thi-ee to seven in num- 

 ber, and nidification commences fi-equently long before the disappearance of 

 the ice and snow. Like the Hawk Owl of the Old World, it lays at irregu- 

 lar intervals and commences to incubate as soon as the first egg is deposited, 

 both sexes taking part in these duties. Eggs may be looked for fi-om the latter 

 part of April through the month of May; these vary from oval to oblong 

 oval in shape, are pure white in color, and somewhat glossy; the shell is 

 smooth and fine grained. They resemble the eggs of the Short-eared Owl 

 very closely and are scarcely distinguishable from them. 



The average measm-ement of thirty-eight specimens in the U. S. National 

 Museum collection is 39.5 by 31.5 millimetres, the largest egg measuring 

 43 by 32, the smallest 36.5 by 30 millimetres. 



The type specimen. No. 14564 (PL 12, Fig. 18), selected from a set of 

 six eggs, was taken by Mr. William H. Dall, U. S. Coast Survey, near 

 Nulato, Alaska, May 5, 1868. 



140. Speotyto cunicularia hypogaea (Bonaparte). 



BURROWING OWL. 



Sfrix hypogce.a Bonaparte, American Ornithology, i, 1835, 72. 



Spheotyto cunicularia var. hypogce.a Ridgway, in CouES's Key to North American 

 Birds, 1873, 308. 



(B 58, 59, C 333, R 408, C 487, U 378.) 



Geographical range: Western North America; north to and "beyond the north- 

 ern boundary of the United States; east throughout the Great Plains; south to Guate- 

 mala; accidental in New York (city) and Massachusetts. 



The breeding range of the little Burrowing Owl includes the prairie 

 regions west of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, the Great Plains of the 

 United States from northern Texas north, tlirough the Indian Territory, Kan- 

 sas, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, to about latitude 48° N. It also 

 occurs in small numbers in western Minnesota (Swift County). As far as I 

 am aware, it has not as yet been noticed in the southern parts of the pi-ov- 

 inces of Manitoba and Assiniboia, in the Dominion of Canada, but probably 

 occurs there also in favorable localities. Thence it is found westward through- 

 out the intervening States and Territories, the timbered and mountainous 

 regions excepted, to the Pacific coast, where it reaches the southern border 

 of British Columbia in about latitude 50°. Prof. J. Macoun found it very 

 abundant at Kamloops, British Columbia, in 1889, and took a specimen at 

 Revels Lake in 1890. 



It is common in various localities in Idaho, Washington, and Oregon, east 

 of the Cascade range of mountains, and it is well known to occur in consid- 



