194 THE HAWKS AND OWLS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



Many stories have been fabricated in regard to the association of the 

 prairie dog, Owl, and rattlesnake, some of which are unequaled among 

 fairy tales. The whole story is ably told by Dr. Cones in the ' Birds of 

 the Northwest. 7 After giving a rather exaggerated account of the re- 

 lations existing between the reptile, mammal, and bird, according to 

 the views of some, he then explains exactly how matters stand in the 

 colony. The following is his account : 



u The case is further complicated by the introduction of the rattle- 

 snakes; and no little pure bosh is in type respecting the harmonious 

 and confidential relations imagined to subsist between the trio, which, 

 like the l happy family' of Barnum, lead Utopian existences. Accord- 

 ing to the dense bathos of such nursery tales, in this underground 

 Elysium the snakes give their rattles to the puppies to play with, the 

 old dogs cuddle the Owlets, and farm out their own litters to the grave 

 and careful birds ; when an Owl and a dog come home, paw-in-wing, 

 they are often mistaken by their respective progeny, the little dogs 

 nosing the Owls in search of the maternal font and the old dogs left to 

 wonder why the baby Owls will not nurse. It is a pity to spoil a good 

 story for the sake of a few facts, but, as the case stands, it would be 

 well for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to take it 

 up. First, as to the reptiles, it may be observed that they are, like 

 other rattlesnakes, dangerous, venomous creatures ; they have no busi- 

 ness in the burrows, and are after no good when they do enter. They 

 wriggle into the holes, partly because there is no other place for them 

 to crawl into on the bare, flat plain, and partly in search of Owls' eggs, 

 Owlets, and puppies to eat. Next, the Owls themselves are simply at- 

 tracted to the villages of the prairie dogs as the most convenient 

 places for shelter and nidification, where they find eligible ready-made 

 burrows and are spared the trouble of digging for themselves. Com- 

 munity of interest makes them gregarious to an extent unusual among 

 rapacious birds ; while the exigencies of life on the plains cast their lot 

 with the rodents. That the Owls live at ease in the settlement and on 

 familiar terms with their four-footed neighbors is an undoubted fact ; 

 but that they inhabit the same burrows or have any intimate domestic 

 relations, is quite another thing. It is no proof that the quadruped 

 and the birds live together that they are often seen to scuttle at each 

 other's heels into the same hole when alarmed ; for in such case the 

 two simply seek the nearest shelter, independently of each other. The 

 probability is that young dogs often furnish a meal to the Owls, and 

 that, in return, the latter are often robbed of their eggs 5 while certainly 

 the young of both and the Owls' eggs are eaten by the snakes." (p. 324.) 



The first two weeks in April, earlier or later, according to latitude, 

 is the usual time for this species to begin to deposit its eggs. Capt. 

 Bendire thinks that the period of incubation is about three weeks, and 

 that both birds assist in hatching the eggs. The young Owls make 

 their appearance at the mouth of the hole in the latter part of May. 



