84 Wyoming Experiment Station. 



enne, Jesuruii at Douglas, and several specimens have been 

 taken near Sherman. 



378. Speotyto cunicularia hypogaea (Bonap.). 

 Burrowing Oyvl. 



Resident and common. Usually found from the plain 

 country which varies from 4,000 to 6,000 feet, to the table 

 lands varying from 6,000 to 7,500. I have never seen this pe- 

 culiar owl above 8,000 feet. Stories are very common in this 

 state concerning the relationship of this owl to the prairie 

 dog, whose home this bird appropriates, and the rattlesnake. 

 The majority of these are unfounded and have been gleaned 

 from the work of unscientific story writers who have no re- 

 gard for the truth. The following interesting account is an 

 extract from Fisher, (Hawks and Owls of the United States, 

 p. 194), which is largely taken from Coues' "Birds of. the 

 Northwest :" 



"Many stories have been fabricated in regard to the as- 

 sociation of the prairie dog, owl, and rattlesnake, some of 

 which are unequaled among fairy tales. The whole story is 

 ably told by Dr. Coues in the 'Birds of the Northwest.' After 

 giving a rather exaggerated account of the relations existing 

 between the reptile, mammal, and bird, according to the views 

 of some, he then explains exactly how matters stand in the 

 colony. The following is his account : 



""'The case is further complicated by the introduction of 

 the rattlesnakes; and no little pure bosh is in type respect- 

 ing the harmonious and confidential relations imagined to sub- 

 sist between the trio, which, like the 'happy family' of Bar- 

 num, lead Utopian existences. According to the dense pathos 

 of such nursery tales, in this underground- Elysium the snakes 

 give their rattles to the puppies to play with, the old dogs 

 cuddle the owlets, and farm out their own litters to the grave 

 and careful birds; when an owl and a dog come home, paw- 

 in-wing, they are often mistaken by their respective progeny. 



