BURROWING OWL. 
69 
the intervening hours, our Owl enjoys the broadest glare of the 
noon-day sun, and flying rapidly along, searches for food or plea¬ 
sure 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 honourable 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 numerous, 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 foot-path. 
From the entrance, the passage into the mound descends verti¬ 
cally for one or two feet, and is thence continued obliquely down¬ 
wards, until it terminates in an apartment, within which the 
industrious Marmot constructs, on the approach of the cold season, 
the comfortable cell for his winter’s sleep. This cell, which is 
VOL. I,-S 
