BURROWING OWL. 
119 
is said to excavate the burrow it inhabits, not only as a 
nest, but as a retreat and place of refuge in the bosom of 
the earth, instead of the hollow of a tree or the cranny 
of a ruin, according to the more usual habits of these 
nocturnal wanderers ; indeed, this species appears to be 
nearly as diurnal as a Hawk, to which he bears no bad 
resemblance in the lightness and bareness of his long 
legs, and the projection of his bill from an unusually 
small head. With these indications of activity, he really 
enjoys the light of the full glare of day, and is seen at 
this time flying about, and searching for his exclusive 
food of hard-shelled insects. His habits on the plains, at 
the foot of the Rocky Mountains, where the specimen 
figured in the splendid work of Prince Charles Bona- 
parte, was obtained by Mr. Say, are somewhat different 
in circumstances, from those of the same bird in Chili 
and the West Indies* for, like almost all the other 
smaller Owls, he appears to shun the labor of forming an 
independent dwelling, and takes up his abode in the de- 
serted burrows of the Prairie Marmot, in consequence of 
which he often appears singularly and amicably associ- 
ated with this little barking quadruped, whose note even 
he seems to have acquired, “ ’tsheh , ’ tsheh , 3 tsheh , ’tsheh” 
rather than the more natural howling of his frater- 
nity. Vieillot attributes to him the usual hoo , hoo , 06 , 
oo, od, and brings him round the farm-houses of St. Do- 
mingo like other common nocturnal species ; but these 
habits would much better suit the Mottled Owl than the 
present, and may therefore justly be doubted. Like the 
other species it lays 2 white and round eggs, and lines 
the nest with moss and dry grass. The burrowing habit, 
constant in this species, seems not altogether peculiar, 
as the Aluco Owl, according to Latham, also burrows 
sometimes like a Rabbit. 
