222, BURROWING OWL. 
BURROWING OWL. (Strix cunicularia.) 
PLATE VII.—Fie. 2. 
Strix cunicularia, Molina, Hist. Chili (Am. ed.) i. p. 184.—Gmel. Syst. i. p. 292, 
sp. 28.—Lath. Ind. p. 63, sp. 38.—Vieil. Otis. de. VAm. Sept. 1. p. 48.—Say, 
in Longs Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, ii. p. 86 and 200.—Ulula 
cunicularia, Meuillée, Journ. Obs. Phys. p. 562.—Noctua Coquimbana, Briss. 
Av. i, p. 525, sp. 11.—Coquimbo Owl, Lath. Syn. i. p. 145, sp. 33.—Phila- 
delphia Muscum, No. 472. 
ULULA CUNICULARIA.—FEUILLEE.* 
Strix (subgen. Surnia) cunicularia, Bonap. Synop. p. 36. 
VENERABLE ruins, crumbling under the influence of time and 
vicissitudes of season, are habitually associated with our re- 
collections of the owl; or he is considered as the tenant of 
sombre forests, whose nocturnal gloom is rendered deeper and 
more awful by the harsh dissonance of his voice. In poetry 
he has long been regarded as the appropriate concomitant of 
darkness and horror; and when heard screaming from the 
topmost fragments of some mouldering wall, whose rugged- 
ness is but slightly softened by the mellowing moonlight, 
imagination loves to view him as a malignant spirit, hooting 
triumphantly over the surrounding desolation! But we are 
now to make the reader acquainted with an owl to which none 
of these associations can belong—a bird that, so far from seek- 
ing refuge in the ruined habitations of man, fixes its residence 
within the earth, and, instead of concealing itself in solitary 
recesses of the forest, delights to dwell on open plains, in 
company with animals remarkable for their social disposition, 
neatness, and order. Instead of sailing heavily forth in the 
* T am far from being satisfied with the generic appellation I have 
now provisionally bestowed on this bird. It is completely a day owl 
in its habits, but in many parts of its structure resembles the nocturnal 
species. Wherever it may be hereafter placed by a strict analysis, it 
will prove a most interesting form, and perhaps show some connections 
that we do not at present anticipate. The Prince of Musignano has 
properly incorporated Mr Say’s remarks with his description.—Eb. 

