common, though unfriendly, residents of the same habitation, or that our owl was the sole occupant of what it had acquired by the right of conquest. The evidence of this was clearly presented by the ruinous condition of burrows tenanted by the owl, which were frequently caved in and their sides channelled by the rains; while the neat and well-preserved mansion of the marmot showed the active care of a skilful and industrious owner. We have no evidence that the owl and marmot habitually resort to one burrow; yet we are well assured by Pike and others, that a common danger often drives them into the same excavation, where lizards and rattlesnakes also enter for concealment and safety." It appears, however, from recent observations, that the prairie-dog is the prey of the so-called burrowing owl.*

THE VIRGINIAN HORNED OWL.†

SIR JOHN RICHARDSON thinks that this night bird, peculiar to America, inhabits that continent from end to end. Wilson thus describes its haunts and habits: "His favourite residence is in the

dark solitudes of deep swamps, covered with a growth of gigantic timber; and here, as soon as evening draws on, and mankind retire to rest, he sends forth such sounds as seem scarcely to belong to this world, startling the solitary pilgrim as he slumbers by his forest fire,

'Making night hideos.'

"Along the mountainous shores of the Ohio, and amidst the deep forests of Indiana, alone, and reposing in the woods, this ghostly watchman has frequently warned me of the approach of morning, and amused. me with his singular exclamations, sometimes sweeping down and around my fire, uttering a loud and solemn 'Waugh O! Waugh O!' sufficient to have alarmed a whole garrison."

Early in February, the great horned owls are seen to pair. The curious evolutions of the male on the wing it is impossible to describe. Extremely ludicrous are his bowings and the snappings of his bill; but no sooner is the female assured that his attentions are sincere and affectionate, than she joins in his emotions and becomes his mate.

The length of the male is twenty inches; the bill is large, black, and strong, covered at the base with a cere; the eyes golden yellow; the horns are three inches in length and very broad, their webs black, broadly-edged with bright tawny; the face rusty, bounded on each side by a band of black; the whole lower parts elegantly marked with numerous transverse bars of a dusky colour on a bright tawny ground, thinly interspersed with white. The female is full two feet in length, and the white on her throat is not so pure as on that of the male. She has also less of the bright ferruginous or tawny tint below, but is principally distinguished by her superior size.

The nest, which is very bulky, is usually fixed on a large horizontal branch, and far from the trunk of the tree. It is formed externally of crooked sticks, and is lined with coarse grasses and feathers. There are from three to six eggs, almost globular in form, and of a dull white colour.

See Mammalia, Vol. II.-The Prairie Dog.

† Bubo Virginianus.

THE scientific name assigned to these birds is, as Cuvier observed, of a negative kind. They are not rapacious, like those that have just been considered, nor are they like those that will follow, gallinaceous, nor to be described as waders, climbers, or swimmers. And though it is difficult to establish rigid sub-divisions, yet a general similarity of structure, and an insensible melting of one group into another, may be easily traced. Exceedingly numerous, they have been divided into four tribes, each of which we shall now proceed to examine.

The name of the First Tribe + alludes to the wide gape of the bill, a remarkable feature in all the subjects of this section, so that, with other provisions of structure, they can take their food on the wing. Goat-sucker is the English name of these Night-swallows, commonly called Night-jars; whence the name by which the first family is generally known among naturalists.

THIS is a bird of nocturnal habits. Its eyes are large; its plumage full, soft, and downy; its gape enormous; its wings long; its tarsi very short and generally feathered; three of its toes are before, and there is one behind, but this can be brought forward; and the nail of the middle, in most species, is pectinated on its internal edge. The female has the plumage of the male generally, but she wants the white spots he has on the quills and tail-feathers.

Aristotle speaks of "a mountain-bird, a little larger than the blackbird, and a little less than the cuckoo. It lays eggs to the number of two or three at most, and is of a slothful nature. Flying upon the goats, it sucks them, whence it has its name. They say, that when it has sucked the teat it becomes dry, and that the goat becomes blind. It is not sharp-sighted by day; but it sees by night." Ælian also refers to the absurd story of the goat-sucking habits of this bird, which may probably be referred to a still earlier date.

Gilbert White alludes to the prejudice of his own time, that this bird was very injurious to weanling calves, by inflicting, as it strikes at them, the fatal distemper known to cow-leeches by the * Passeres: Linnæus. Insessores: Vigors. + Fissirostres. Caprimulgida. § Caprimulgus Europeus: Linn.

name of "puckeridge." "But the truth of the matter is," he says, "the malady is occasioned by the Estrus bovis, a dipterous insect, which lays its eggs along the chines of kine, where the maggots, when hatched, eat their way through the hide of the beast into the flesh, and grow to a very large size." The birds live in solitary retreats, whence they emerge on noiseless wing, chasing the insects

which, like themselves, sport in the murky twilight. The blended hues of gray and brown, which decorate their plumage, well accord with the shades of evening, and thus favour their concealment. So wide is their gape, that they cannot miss their prey; and, to prevent its struggles, the edges of the mandibles are provided with a row of stiff bristles, and the middle toe with a serrated edge.

The following is a very remarkable specimen of the family now under consideration.