246 



NESTS AND EGGS OF 



The eggs are said to range from two to six in number, dull white in color, rounded- 

 oval in shape, and average in their long diameter 1.53 and in their short diameter 

 1.35. A set of five egg^ is in Mr. C. W. Crandall's collection. They were collected by - 

 Mr. Edward Arnold at Fishing Lakes, Assiniboia, British America, May 26, 1895. 

 The nest was in a maple tree, fifteen feet from the ground; it was composed of large 

 and small sticks, lined with grass, moss, rabbit-fur and rubbish. While taking 

 these eggs the parent bird proved to be very pugnacious. The eggs measure as fol- 

 lows: 1.59x1.23, 1.54x1.24, 1.58x1.24, 1.53x1.25, 1.58x1.25. 



378. BURROWING OWL. Speotyto cunicularia hypoffwa (Bonap.) Geog. 

 Dist.— Western United States, from the Great Plains to the Pacific, south to Guate- 

 mala. Accidental in New England. 



The Burrowing Owl, made famous by popular stories of Its living in burrows 

 and holes of the ground with rattlesnakes, gophers and prairie dogs, inhabits the 



a78. Burrowing Owl (From Brehm). 



treeless regions of Western North America, from the plains to the Pacific. It is 

 found In all suitable places in Kansas, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Nebraska. Indlam 

 Territory, Wyoming, Dakota, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona, Washington, GregOM 

 and* California. They are usually abundant, and congregate in large eoM- 

 ^unities, breeding in deserted burrows of quadrupeds, such as the prairie dog, 

 kadger or gopher, and there is no truth in the statements made by travelers tb«t the 



