BURROWING OWL. 121 



one burrow, yet we are well assured by Pike and others, that a common 

 danger often drives them into the same excavation, where lizards and rattle- 

 snakes also enter for concealment and safety. 



The note of our bird is strikingly similar to the cry of the Marmot, which 

 sounds like cheh, cheh, pronounced several times in rapid succession. Its 

 food appears to consist entirely of insects, as, on examination of its stomach, 

 nothing but parts of their hard wing-cases were found." 



Burrowing Owl, Strix cunicularia, Say, in Long's Exped., vol. i. p. 200. 

 Burrowing Owl, Strix cunicularia, Bonap. Amer. Orn., vol. i. p. 68. 

 Burrowing Owl, Strix cunicularia, Aud. Orn. Biog., vol. v. p. 264. 

 Burrowing Owl, Strix cunicularia, Nutt. Man., vol. i. p. 118. 



Feet rather long, slender; tarsus covered with short soft feathers, of which 

 the shafts only remain toward the lower part; toes short, their upper surface 

 covered with bristles or the shafts of feathers; tail short, arched, narrow, 

 slightly rounded. Bill greyish-yellow; claws black. General colour of 

 upper parts light yellowish-brown, or umber-brown, spotted with white; the 

 quills with triangular reddish-white spots from the margins of both webs, 

 there being five on each web of the first; the tail similarly barred, there 

 being on the middle feathers four double spots, and the tips of all white. 

 Face greyish-white; throat and ruff white, succeeded by a mottled brown 

 band, beneath which is a patch of white; the rest of the lower parts yellowish- 

 white, with broad bars of light reddish-brown, which are closer on the sides 

 of the breast; abdomen, lower tail-coverts, and legs without spots. 



Male, 10, 24. Female, 11. 



Genus II.— ULULA. NIGHT-OWL. 



Bill short, strong, very deep, its upper outline decurved from the base; 

 lower mandible abruptly rounded, with a notch on each side. Nostrils 

 broadly elliptical, rather large. Conch of ear very large, elliptical, extending 

 from the base of the lower jaw to near the top of the head, with an anterior 

 semicircular operculum in its whole length. Feet rather short, strong; tarsi 

 and toes covered with very soft downy feathers. Plumage full, and very 

 soft; facial disks complete. Wings rather long, very broad, much rounded, 

 the third quill longest; the filaments of the first, half of the second, and the 

 terminal part of the third, free and recurved. Tail of moderate length, 

 arched, slightly rounded. 



Vol. I. 18 



