THE OWLS. 
their sides channelled by the rains, while the neat and well pre- 
served mansions of the builders and original proprietors showed 
a degree of skill and neatness that was remarkable. There is 
no evidence, says M. Bonaparte, that the bird and the quadru- 
ped habitually resort to one burrow ; yet we are well assured 
by Pivre and others that a common danger often drives them 
into the same excavation where lizards and rattlesnakes also 
enter for concealment and safety. 
Another of the more conspicuous of Strigidce is the eagle-owl. 
This bird is rarely seen in France or England, but is plen- 
tiful in Russia and Germany. It inhabits the clefts of solitary 
rocks, and rarely descends to the plains. Although occasionally 
seen flying abroad at daylight, night is its hunting season, and 
its prey any small quadruped it may capture, from the mouse 
to the hare. Its chief peculiarity is that it barks so much like 
a dog as to make it a difficult matter to distinguish between 
the two ! 
THE BELEEY. 
288 
