SPEOTYTO CUNICULAEIA VAR. HYPOG^A. 325 



may have but one vestibule, but even this does not imply that they nest 

 together. It is strong evidence in point, that usually there are the 

 fewest Owls in the towns most densely populated by the dogs, and con- 

 versely. Scarcity of food, of water, or some obscure cause, often makes 

 the dogs emigrate from one locality to another; it is in such "deserted 

 villages" that the Owls are usually seen in the greatest numbers. I have 

 never seen them so numerous as in places where there were plesitj' of 

 holes, but where scarcely a stray dog remained. 



As already intimated, the Owls are by no means confined to the dog- 

 towns, nor even to the similar communities of other gregarious spermo- 

 philes. They sometimes occupy the underground dens of wolves, foxes, 

 and badgers. In South America, the representative race lives among the 

 bizcachas {Lagostomus frkliodaciyluH) that inhabit the Pampas. Ou 

 some occasions the birds have been found alone, residing apparently in 

 burrows excavated by themselves, as aheady stated. They are by no 

 means nocturnal; able to endure the sunlight without inconvenience, 

 they may be observed abroad at all hours. It has been stated that, in 

 the autumn, at the approach of cold weatlier, they retire into their bur- 

 rows to hybernate — a fable matching the one that ascribes to Swallows 

 the habit of diving into the mud to pass the winter in repose along with 

 torpid frogs. In most localities the birds are abroad the year round ; 

 their disappearance, in inclement regions, is accomplished, if at all, by 

 ordinary migration. In California I saw them, bright and lively as 

 crickets, in November. 



I never undertook to unearth the nest of a Burrowing Owl, but others 

 have been more zealous in the pursuit of knowledge under difSculties. 

 Dr. Cooper says that he once dug two fresh eggs out of a burrow, which 

 he followed down for three feet, and then traced five feet horizontally, 

 at the end of which he found an enlarged chamber, where the eggs were 

 deposited on a few feathers. In his interesting note in the American Nat- 

 uralist, Dr. 0. S. Oanfield gives a more explicit account of the nesting: 

 "I once took pains to dig out a nest of the Athene cunicularia. I found 

 that the burrow was about lour feet long, and the nest was only about 

 two feet from the surface of the ground. The nest was made in a cavity 

 of the ground, of about a foot m diameter, well filled with dry, sott 

 horse-dung, bits of an old blanket, and far of a coyot6 [Canis Intruns) 

 that I had killed a few days before. One of the parent birds wAs on 

 the nest, and I captured it. It had no intention of leaving the nest, 

 even when entirely uncovered with the shovel and exposed to the open 

 air. It fought bravely with beak and claws. I found seven young ones, 

 perhaps eight or ten days old, well covered with down, but Avithout any 

 feathers. The whole nest, as well as the birds (old and young), swarmed 

 with fleas. It was the filthiest nest I ever saw. In the passage leading 

 to it there were small scraps of dead animals, such as pieces of the skin 

 of the antelope, half dried and half putrifled; the skin of the coyote, 

 &c. ; and near the nest were the remains of a snake that I had killed 

 two days before, a large Coluber ? two feet long. The birds had begun 

 at the snake's head, and had picked off the flesh clean from the vertebrae 

 and ribs for about one-half its length ; the other half of the snake was 

 entire. The material on which the young birds rested was at least three 

 inches deep. * * * * There are very few birds that carry more 

 rubbish into the nest than the Athene; and even the Vultures are not 

 much more filthy. I am satisfied that the A. cunicularia lays a. larger 

 number of eggs than is attributed to it in Dr. Brewer's book (four). I 

 have frequently seen, late in the season, six, seven, or eight young birds 

 standing around the mouth of a burrow, isolated from others in such a 

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