Z28 VERTEBRATES. 



It is also found in North America. Wilson relates that it is a 

 good fisher, snatching its prey from the water by a sudden grasp 

 of the foot. It also preys on lemmings, hares, ptarmigans, etc., 

 chasing and striking at them with its feet. It makes its nest on 

 the ground, and lays three or four white eggs, of which more than 

 two are seldom hatched. Its length is from twenty-two to twenty- 

 seven inches, the expanse of wing four feet ; the third primary 

 feather is the longest. 



The Burrowing Owl accompanies the prairie dog of 

 North America, and wherever that animal chooses to live, there is 

 the Burrowing Owl. This singular little bird finds that to take 

 possession of the ready-made burrows of the prairie'dog is much 

 more agreeable than to dig a hole for itself; so it takes unfurnished 

 lodgings in a deserted dwelling, undisturbed by anything except 

 a casual lizard or rattlesnake. 



So numerous are these little owls, that they may be seen in 

 small flocks seated on the tops of the mounds in which the en- 

 trance of the burrows is formed. It is said that the owls, mar- 

 mots (or prairie dogs), lizards, and snakes, all live harmoniously 

 in one happy family. Such, however, is not really the case, as 

 the burrowing owls prefer holes unoccupied by any other tenant, 

 and have been seen with something most suspiciously like a young 

 snake struggling in their mouths. The bottom of its hole is gene- 

 rally comfortably filled with dried hay and roots. 



The legs of this bird are longer than those of other owls. 

 It is by no means large, measuring but ten inches in length. 



The Barn Otvl afibrds another instance of mistaken per- 

 secution. This beautiful and most useful bird, whose carcase we 

 so often see triumphantly nailed to the barn, actually feeds upon 

 and destroys in incalculable numbers the rats and mice which bear 

 it company ip its undeserved punishment. Waterton remarks : 

 " When farmers complain that the barn owl destroys the eggs of 

 their pigeons, they lay the saddle on the wrong horse. They ought 

 to put it on the rat. Formerly I could get very few young pigeons 

 till the rats were excluded from the dovecote. Since that took 

 place, it has produced a great abundance every year, although the 



