
HABITS OF THE BURROWING OWL. 585 
dung, bits of an old blanket, and fur of a Coyoté (Canis 
latrans) that I had killed a few days before. One of the 
parent birds (male or female?) was in the nest, and I cap- 
tured it. It had no intention of leaving the nest, even when 
entirely uncovered by the shovel, and exposed to: the open 
air. It fought bravely with beak and claws. — I found seven 
young ones, perhaps eight or ten days old, well covered with 
down, but without any feathers. ‘The whole nest, as well as 
the birds (old and young), swarmed with fleas. It was. the 
filthiest nest that I ever saw. In the passage leading to the 
nest there were small scraps of dead animals; such as pieces 
of the skin of the antelope, half dried and half putrified, the 
skin of the coyoté, ete. ; and near the nest were the remains 
of a snake that I had killed two days before, a large Coluber? 
two feet long. The birds had begun at the snake’s head, and 
had picked off the flesh clean from the vertebre and ribs for 
about one-half of its length; the other half of the snake was 
entire. The material on which the young birds nested was 
at least three inches in depth. I do not remember the time 
of the year. 
The Burrowing Owls do not migrate. Where I lived they 
Were as numerous in winter as in summer. Perhaps in 
low, flat plains, that are deluged or inundated by water in 
the winter, the little owl is obliged to have a far drier loca- 
tion, but I have never seen any such migration. They always 
Temain in or near their burrows through the day, never leav- 
ug them to go any distance except when disturbed, when 
they make a short crooked flight to some other hole near 
by, and when driven from this last one return to the first 
‘gain. When the sun sets they sally forth to hunt for food, 
etc., and are all night on the wing. I had seen them and — 
„eard them at all times of the night and early in the morn- 
ng. They are not strictly nocturnal, for they do not derea 
in their nests or burrows all day, but their habits, in this 
| —-*Spect, are about the same as those of the other owls, as 
pratincola, Nyctea nivea, etc., or of the domestic cat. 
AMER. NATURALIST, VOL. Il. T4 

