BURROWING OWL. 
325 
BURROWING OWL STRIX CUNICULARIA. 
Plate VI I. Fig. 2. 
Strix cunicularia, Molina^ Hist. Chili, (Am. ed.) i. p. 184. Gmel. Syst. i. p. 292, 
sp. 28. Lath. Ind. p. 63, sp. 38. Vieill. Ois. de VAm. Sept. i. p. 48. Say, 
in Long's Expedition to the Rochy Mountains, ii. p. 36 and 200. — Ulula cunicu- 
laria, Feuillee, Journ. Ohs. JPhys. p. 562. — Noctua Coquimbana, Rriss. Av. i. 
p. 625, sp. 11. — Coquimbo Owl, Lath. Syn. i. p. 145, sp. 33. Philadelphia 
Museum, No. 472. 
ULULA CUNICULARIA.^Y^miA.kE.* 
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 
recollections 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 ruggedness 
is but slightly softened by the mellowing moonlight, imagina- 
tion loves to view him as a malignant spirit, hooting triumph- 
antly 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 seeking 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 
* I am far from being satisfied with the generic appellation I have now pro- 
visionally 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 connexions that we do not at present anticipate. The Prince 
of Musignano has properly incorporated Mr Say’s remarks with his description. 
^En. 
