BURROWING OWL. 223 
obscurity of the evening or morning twilight, and then retreat- 
ing to mope away the intervening hours, our owl enjoys the 
broadest glare of the noonday sun, and flying rapidly along, 
searches for food or pleasure during the cheerful light of 
day. 
The votaries of natural science must always feel indebted 
to the learned and indefatigable Say for the rich collection of 
facts he has made whenever opportunities have been presented, 
but more especially in the instance of this very singular bird, 
whose places of resort in this country are too far distant to 
allow many the pleasure of examining for themselves. We 
feel doubly disposed to rejoice that the materials for the 
history of our bird are drawn from his ample store, both on 
account of their intrinsic excellence, and because it affords us 
an opportunity of evincing our admiration of the zeal, talents, 
and integrity which have raised this man to the most honour- 
able and enviable eminence as a naturalist. 
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 it unnecessary that our bird should dig for 
himself, as he is said to do in other parts of the world, where 
no burrowing animals exist. ‘These villages are very nume- 
rous, and variable in their extent, sometimes covering only a 
few acres, and at others spreading over the surface of the 
country for miles together. They are composed of slightly 
elevated mounds, having the form of a truncated cone, about 
two feet in width at base, and seldom rising as high as eighteen 
inches above the surface of the soil. The entrance is placed 
either at the top or on the side, and the whole mound is beaten 
down externally, especially at the summit, resembling a much- 
used footpath. 
From the entrance, the passage into the mound descends 
vertically for one or two feet, and is thence continued obliquely 
downwards, until it terminates in an apartment, within which 
the industrious marmot constructs, on the approach of the cold 
