The Burrowing Owl 



Nesting. — Nest: At end of underground burrow, 4 to 10 feet in length, usually a 

 mere cushion of dried horse-dung, occasionally with admixture of feathers and other 

 soft substances. Eggs: 5 to n ; white, subspherical, highly glossed. Av. size 31.8 x 25.4 

 (1.25 x 1. 00). Season: April 20-May 20; one brood. 



Range of Speotyto cunicularia. — Treeless portions of the western United States 

 and adjoining British Provinces, south to southern South America. 



Range of 5. c. hypogcea. — Western North America from Puget Sound (locally), 

 central British Columbia, southern Saskatchewan, and southwestern Manitoba, south 

 to Panama, and from the Pacific Coast (exclusive of the humid strip) with most of the 

 adjacent islands, east to central Nebraska, Kansas, and southeastern Louisiana. 

 Migratory from the northern portions of its range. 



Distribution in California. — Common resident in the treeless portions of the 

 State up to the Transition zone. Not found in the humid coastal strip above Marin 

 County, nor on the rocky desert ranges. Occurs regularly upon the islands from the 

 Farallons south. Numbers undoubtedly augmented in winter by migrants from the 

 North. 



Authorities. — Gambel (Athene socialis), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. iii., 

 1846, p. 47 (Calif.; crit., habits, voice); Coues, Birds of the Northwest, 1874, p. 321 

 (syn., desc. habits, etc.); Tyler, Pac. Coast Avifauna, no. 9, 1913, p. 51 (San Joaquin 

 Valley, habits, etc.); C. A. Wood, Contr. to Med. and Biol. Research, 1919, p. 818 

 (eye structure). 



"BILLY OWL" is the humorous and half affectionate name be- 

 stowed by all good Californians upon this familiar sprite of the roadside, 

 this authentic genius of open spaces. Like an elfin sentry the bird 

 challenges from his earthen mound, denounces us valorously as tres- 

 passers, and then either dives ignominiously below or flees to some 

 distant sage top. Or, if he holds his own at the mouth of the home 

 burrow, he bows and clucks in a fashion which is eccentric rather than 

 polite. Of the bird's absurd appearance Coues has testified in a memor- 

 able passage: 1 



"Their figure is peculiar with their long legs and short tail; the 

 element of the grotesque is never wanting; it is hard to say whether they 

 look most ludicrous as they stand stiffly erect and motionless, or when 

 they suddenly turn tail to duck into a hole, or when engaged in their 

 various antics. Bolt upright on what may be imagined their rostrum, 

 they gaze about with a bland and self-satisfied, but earnest air, as if about 

 to address an audience upon a subject of great pith and moment. They 

 suddenly bow low with profound gravity, and rising as abruptly, they 

 begin to twitch their face and roll their eyes about in the most mysterious 

 manner, gesticulating wildly, every now and then bending forward till 

 the breast almost touches the ground, to propound the argument with 

 more telling effect. Then they face about to address the rear, that all 

 alike may feel the force of their logic; they draw themselves up to their 



1 Birds of the Northwest, 1874, pp. 326-7. 



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