The Burrowing Owl 



in the back, then breaks the creature's neck by sharp quick blows of the 

 beak. Soberly regarding the special claims of the hay rancher and grain- 

 grower, I should say that, save the Barn Owl only, the Burrowing Owl is 

 his best ally among birds, and that he who wantonly destroys one should 

 be classed with the man who tramples a field of grain or sets fire to a 

 haystack. 



Whenever food is plenty and the ground inviting, Burrowing Owls are 

 likely to form little colonies, ten or a dozen pairs being found in a stretch of 

 two or three acres. They appear to be peaceably disposed toward each 

 other, and mates are notably faithful. Upon the advent of spring, or say 

 in the early days of March, one may hear at evening a soft and mellow love 

 song, coo coo-oo, coo coo-oo, which the male repeats by the hour. This 

 sound, which our English friends declare reminds them strikingly of the 

 old world cuckoo {Cuculus canorus Linn.), requires to be carefully distin- 

 guished from that of our own Road-runner (Geococcyx calif ornianus) . It 

 is perhaps more sprightly and thinner in quality than that of the love-lorn 

 chaparral cock, but the resemblance is very close. Besides this engaging 

 love note, the Burrowing Owl indulges the strongly contrasting clattering 

 cries already referred to. This excited clacking serves not only to exorcise 

 invaders in time of danger, but to voice various emotions, notably those 

 which arise at early evening in pursuit of the chase. I have even suspect- 

 ed that it was a sort of hunting song, a due notice to all imprudent moles, 

 akin to the awful serenade with which the Mountain Lion terrorizes his 

 prey. Be this as it may, the reverberating clack — clack — clack clack clack, 

 sounding from field to field, serves to identify the twilight hours as 

 Speotyto's own. 



The Burrowing Owl enjoys an almost unbroken distribution through- 

 out the treeless or lightly timbered sections of the State, from the base of 

 the Sierras down to the ocean's edge. Indeed, it does more than this, for 

 it is one of the characteristic birds of the Santa Barbara Islands and those 

 of the coast of Lower California. In such situations it is impossible to 

 believe that the lesser sea-fowl — petrels and auklets — do not furnish their 

 quota of this bird's fare. In 191 1 I found a single Owl on the flat below 

 the siren on the S. E. Farallon, a very darkling bird, soiled, perhaps, by 

 much searching of cinder heaps. I was told that several pairs had 

 formerly bred there, but that they had been shot off because of their 

 persecution of the smaller migrants. On the other hand, Brown, who 

 found them abundant on Guadalupe Island, examined a nest which con- 

 tained, as provision for five youngsters, only eighteen freshly killed mice, 

 besides remains of countless others. Burrowing Owls do not thrive upon 

 the desert, nor at Lower Sonoran levels generally, although they may be 

 found under exceptional circumstances. Although civilization and at- 



II25 



