. The oist . ober, embellished by the same authorwith a splendid appeal Dont Shootthe Owls, and it will not be longuntil the contributions from the samepen will be enjoyed by the readers ofthis magazine. Editor. Some Western OWL. Theodore Roosevelt gave to thisspecies the descriptive name ofpicket pin, and well does it motionless in the hot sun atthe entrance to his burrow, he re-sembles nothing in the world so muchas a stake driven into the rancher views him with a friend-ly eye, and calls him Billy Owl. His scientific cognomen is Speo-tyto cu
. The oist . ober, embellished by the same authorwith a splendid appeal Dont Shootthe Owls, and it will not be longuntil the contributions from the samepen will be enjoyed by the readers ofthis magazine. Editor. Some Western OWL. Theodore Roosevelt gave to thisspecies the descriptive name ofpicket pin, and well does it motionless in the hot sun atthe entrance to his burrow, he re-sembles nothing in the world so muchas a stake driven into the rancher views him with a friend-ly eye, and calls him Billy Owl. His scientific cognomen is Speo-tyto cunicularia hypogaea, and theCheck-List gives his range as theWestern United States from the Pa-cific Coast to the Missouri River, andfrom Canada south to Panama, withaccidental appearances in New Yorkand Massachusetts. A Southernform, Speotyto cunicularia floridana,is resident in the southern parts ofFlorida and differs from our birdprincipally in being smaller andpaler. North of about the forty-fifth par- Nearer view of same Quails Nest —Photo by Paul Q. Howes THE OOLOGIST 205 allel the Ground Owl is migratory,but here in Southern California he isresident throug-hout the year fromthe base of the mountains to the veryedge of the Pacific Ocean. Thebreeding season is at its height inLos Angeles County by the middle ofMay. Every patch of pasture-land has oneor more pairs. On the grass-coveredslopes of Point Firmin above theharbor of San Pedro I have foundthem breeding in colonies of twentyor more pairs. Here I have spentmany pleasant hours watching thelittle fellows; and incidentally manyhours of hard labor digging for theirround white eggs. Some writers have it that the birdsexcavate their own burrow, but Ihave never found any evidence ofthis, and believe that in the majorityof cases, if not invariably, they takeup quarters in the deserted burrowsof various small quadrupeds such asground squirrels, prairie dogs, andrabbits. These holes are from four to tenfeet in length, an
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookidoist32al, booksubjectbirds
