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BURROWING OWL. 



f Stjrnia cuniculakia, Gmel. 

 PLATE XXXI.— Male and Female. 



This singular species was added to our Fauna by Mr. Thomas Say, who 

 met with it in the course of Colonel Long's expedition to the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. The observations of that zealous naturalist have been published in 

 the first volume of the Continuation of Wilson's American Ornithology by 

 the Prince of Musignano, and will be repeated below, after I have presented 

 you with the notice transmitted to me by my friend Mr. Townsend. He 

 says: — 



"This species inhabits the plains near the Columbia River and the whole 

 extent of the Rocky Mountains, residing in the forsaken burrows of the 

 Marmots and American Badgers, but never lives on terms of intimacy with 

 either of these animals, as has been so often stated. The burrow selected by 

 this bird is usually found at the foot of a wormwood bush (Artemisia), upon 

 the summit of which this Owl often perches, and stands for a considerable 

 while. On their being approached, they utter a low chattering sound, start, 

 and skim along the plain near the ground for a considerable distance. When 

 winged, they make immediately for the nearest burrow, and when once 

 within it, it is impossible to dislodge them. They are strictly diurnal, feed 

 principally upon grasshoppers and crickets, and, according to the Indians, 

 sometimes upon field-mice. The nest is composed of fine grass, and placed 

 at the extremity of the hole. The eggs are uniformly four in number, pale 

 white, and about the size of those of the common House-Pigeon, the great 

 end, however, being remarkably large, and tapering abruptly. Nothing can 

 be more unpleasant than the bagging of this species, on account of the fleas 

 with which their plumage swarms, and which in all probability have been 

 left in the burrow by the Badger or Marmot, at the time it was abandoned 

 by these animals. I know of no other bird infested by that kind of vermin. 

 This species suddenly disappears in the early part of the month of August, 

 and the Indians assert with great confidence that it retires into its burrow, 

 and spends the winter there in a torpid state." 



Mr. Say's account, as presented in the Continuation of Wilson's American 

 Ornithology, is as follows: — "In the Trans-Mississippian territories of the 

 United States, the Burrowing Owl resides exclusively in the villages of the 

 Marmot or Prairie Dog, whose excavations are so commodious as to render 



