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Show 308 MR. W. H. HUDSON ON THE BURROWING OWL. [May 19, 1. On the Habits of the Burrowing Owl (Pholeoptynx cuni-cularia). By W . H. HUDSON, C.M.Z.S. [Received April 20, 1874.] The Burrowing Owl is abundant everywhere on the open level pampas of the Argentine Republic, and avoids woods but not districts abounding in scattered trees and bushes. It sees better than other Owls by day, and never affects concealment, nor appears molested by diurnal sounds and the glare of noon. When a person passes near one it stares fixedly at him, following him with the eyes, the round head turning about as on a pivot. If closely approached, it drops its body in a somewhat playful fashion, emitting a brief scream, followed by three abrupt ejaculations-and if made to fly, goes but fifteen or twenty yards off, and alights again with face towards the intruder ; and no sooner does it alight than it repeats the gesture and scream, standing stiff and erect, and appearing beyond measure astonished at the intrusion. By day it flies near the surface with wings continuously flapping, and seldom goes far, and invariably before alighting glides suddenly upwards for some distance and comes down abruptly. It frequently runs rapidly on the ground, and is incapable of sustaining flight long. Gaucho boys pursue them for sport on horseback, taking them in fifteen or twenty minutes. They live in pairs all the year, and sit by day at the mouth of the burrow or on the Vizcacha's mound, the two birds so close together as to be almost touching; when alarmed they both fly away, but sometimes the male only, the female diving into the burrow. Their sitting on the ground may be more from necessity than choice, as they usually perch on the summits of bushes where such abound. These are the commonest traits of the Burrowing-Owl in the settled regions, where it is excessively numerous and familiar with man; but in the regions hunted over by the Indians it is scarce, and in some of its habits quite a different bird. Shy of approach as a persecuted game-fowl, it rises to a considerable height in the air when the approaching traveller is yet far off, and flies often beyond sight before descending again to the earth. This wildness of disposition is, without doubt, traceable to the active animosity of the pampa tribes, who have all the ancient wide-spread superstitions regarding the Owl. Sister of the Evil Spirit is one of their names for it. They hunt it to death whenever they can, and, when travelling, will not stop to rest or encamp on the spot where an Owl has been seen. As soon as the plains are settled by whites, the bird drops this wary habit, and becomes exceedingly tame. They are also tenacious of the spot they live in, and are not, like the Pipit and Spurred Lapwing, driven out by cultivation. When the fields are ploughed up, they burrow on the borders of the ditches, and sit on the wayside fences, and are so tame that a rider can easily knock thern down with his whip. Several pairs live near m y house ; and when a person rides up to within three or four yards of a burrow the birds only snap and hiss and ruffle up their feathers, refusing to fly away. |