Chap. IV. WITH OWLS AND EATTLESNAKES. 259 
their holes, or sitting on the heaps of earth near the 
opening, and those who are away from their burrows im- 
mediately run home. Suddenly a whistling call is heard 
around, and the animals have all at once disappeared: 
at the same time little owlets, grey-brown, sprinkled with 
yellowish-white, with soft noiseless plumage, are seen 
fluttering about from one hole to another. Many fly in to 
their four-footed companions, while others alight at the 
entrance and sit with a demure look as if keeping w r atch 
over the dwellings. The little bird, whose body is not 
larger than a turtle-dove's (its full plumage makes it look 
much larger), can see perfectly well in broad daylight. It 
was not till afterwards that I convinced myself of the 
presence of the third fellow-tenant, nor do I know for a 
fact whether the rattlesnake is as regular an inhabitant of 
these marmot-holes as the little owl. I have frequently 
seen rattlesnakes basking in the sun before the entrances, 
and coming out of or going into the holes. The manner 
in which the snake rewards the hospitality shown to it 
interested me particularly : it takes upon itself the task of 
freeing its kind host from a too numerous progeny — a fact 
of which I was convinced by actually finding a young 
marmot in the stomach of a rattlesnake, inhabiting a mar- 
mot-burrow. Whether it does the same with the owlets, 
or whether these turn their especial attention to the young 
rattlesnakes, I cannot say. 
It is a remarkable fact that the ground-squirrel, which 
in a part of the State of California lays waste fields and 
meadows, also shares its subterranean dwellings with owls 
and rattlesnakes. There I have much oftener remarked the 
presence of rattlesnakes than among marmots. The owlet 
is either the same or a nearly-related species of that which 
lives with the marmots. 
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