Taken in 



San Bernardino 



County 



The Burrowing Owl 



spaced evenly. The tunnel has more or 

 less of the same material scattered 

 throughout its length, and a certain 

 amount distributed over the external 

 mound is a necessary 

 evidence of occupation. 

 This is the approved 

 form of upholstery, but 

 some naughty birds near 

 Dos Palos are indulging 

 a more expensive fancy. 

 Here, in three instances, 

 we found tunnels lined 

 copiously with wings of 

 the Black Tern (Hydro- 

 chelidon nigra surinam- 

 ensis), and no less than 

 a dozen pairs of these 

 gruesome mementoes 

 scattered about each 

 front yard. This habit 

 is doubtless quite excep- 

 tional, and due to the 

 special temptations of the immediate neighborhood. One need not kill 

 these Owls to learn what else they feed upon, for half-eaten mice, dis- 

 membered frogs and headless snakes litter the floor, and invite the 

 offices of the far- venturing blow-fly. Fleas usually abound ; and alto- 

 gether the nuptial chamber of this doughty troglodyte is not an inviting 

 place. 



From six to eleven young are raised in a single brood ; and when we 

 consider that the adults themselves require more than their own weight 

 of animal food daily, we begin to form some conception of the economic 

 importance of these birds. Their food includes all the baneful rout of 

 rodents, and they are able to kill ground squirrels of a size equal to their 

 own. Besides these, lizards, frogs, snakes, and even small fish, are cap- 

 tured. Grasshoppers and crickets, as well as beetles of many sorts, are 

 staple food, and for these the bird hunts by day as well as by night. In 

 the pursuit of prey, however, the birds become much more active at 

 sunset, when they may be seen flitting about on noiseless wing, or else 

 hovering in mid air above a suspected spot, after the well known fashion 

 of the Sparrow Hawk. Small game is snatched from the ground without 

 lighting, but in capturing a ground squirrel, the bird first plants his talons 



A PAIR OF BURROWING OWLS 



II2/J. 



