IN SEARCH OF LODGINGS 185 



do not bore for themselves or are anxious to avoid 

 the trouble ; thus many birds avail themselves 

 gladly of the nest-borings of Woqdpeckers, from 

 Tits to tree-breeding Ducks such as the Golden- 

 eye and Carolina. Such Ducks, with Owls and 

 Kestrels, are among the most inveterate of nesting 

 parasites, few of these birds having much notion 

 of making a nest for itself. They are often not 

 particular about a hole, but will adopt an open 

 nest ; thus, the Long-eared Owl gladly utilizes 

 the shallow nest of a Wood- Pigeon. 



The hole-builders indeed often act on the prin- 

 ciple of " any port in a storm " ; they will parasitize 

 mammals as well as other birds, since the Stock- 

 Dove, Tawny Owl, Sheldrake, and PufSn all 

 utilize rabbit-holes in this country, and in America 

 the Burrowing-Owl inhabits those of the prairie- 

 marmot — the so-called prairie-dog (Cynomys lu- 

 dovicianus) — in the northern part of the western 

 continent, and of a much bigger rodent, the vizcacha 

 (Lagostomus trichodactylus) in the southern hemi- 

 sphere. 



In England the Sparrow-Hawk, generally, unlike 

 the Kestrel, an independent nest-builder, has bden 

 found nesting on top of the drey of a Squirrel 

 which was occupied at the time by the little rodent, 

 which reminds one of a converse case recorded in 

 Argentina, when an opossum, a great foe of birds, 

 had established itself in one of the rooms of a com- 

 posite nest of the Quaker Parrakeet above alluded 

 to, the stout walls and overhanging eaves preventing 



