258 CLASS AVES. 



but they will not bear captivity if they have attained their full 

 age in liberty. 



The Coquimho Owl, (Strix cunicularia, Gm.) This species 

 which is called Chouette a Terrier, and Chonette lapin by the 

 French, the Uurcurea of D'Azara, takes its name, in general, 

 from its habits, and not, as might be supposed, by Gmelin's 

 epithet, from its preying on rabbits ; its English name, however, 

 has reference to its locality. 



It is nearly a foot long ; the upper parts of the body are gray- 

 ish, inclining to fulvous, or brown, covered with white spots 

 which enlarge on the wings. It is found in St. Domingo, 

 Chili, especially ?bout Coquimbo, and various parts of America, 

 and lives on small quadrupeds, reptiles, and insects. This 

 species decidedly retires to burrow in the ground, a habit by 

 no means singular ; but M. Feuillee has asserted that it makes 

 these burrows itself. This assertion is repeated by M. Vieillot, 

 who states that he himself saw one of the burrows, similar to 

 that of a rabbit, and two feet deep, and that the freshness of the 

 earth spread round the edge induced him to believe that it was 

 recently formed, and therefore to open it, when at the bot- 

 tom he found an egg lately laid on a bed of moss, grass and 

 dry roots. He adds, that these birds usually lay two eggs of 

 a brilliant white, and nearly spherical ; and that the proprietor of 

 the spot where this nest was found, stated that he had seen the 

 young, when covered only with down, appear at the entrance 

 of the burrow, into which they retreated as soon as they were 

 approached. 



Without questioning any of the facts here stated, we may 

 nevertheless be permitted to doubt whether this burrow, which 

 served for an asylum for the youn , were entirely formed by 

 the parent bird. This species is not the only one which makes 

 its nest in holes in the ground ready made for them by some 

 of the digging mammalia ; and when we consider that others 

 of this genus do so, it seems the more improbable, unless the 

 fact were stated by an eye-witness, to suppose that, in the case 



