Size small; head moderate, without ear-tufts; wings long, with the third
and fourth quills usually longest; tail moderate; facial disc, nearly
obsolete; bill short; upper mandible curved from the base, nearly
concealed by projecting feathers; tarsi long, thinly covered with
feathers; toes naked or with a few hair-like feathers. A genus
containing about forty species of small Owls of all quarters of the
globe.
1. Athene hypugœa. (Bonap.) The Burrowing Owl.
Strix hypugœa. Bonap., Am. Orn., I. p. 72. (1825.)
Athene socialis. Gambel, Proc. Acad., Philada., III. p. 47.
(1846.)
Bonap., Am. Orn., I, pl. 7, fig. 2. Aud., B. of Am., pl. 432, fig. 1.
Oct. ed., pl. 31?
Small; head moderate; tarsi long; slender, thinly covered in front
only with hair-like feathers; naked and scaled laterally and behind;
toes with a few scattered hairs; claws curved, rather slender. Adult.
Entire upper parts light yellowish-brown, every feather more or less
spotted with white, and on the neck behind, and back, with large
partially concealed spots of white; throat white, a narrow band of
mottled brown and white on the neck before, succeeded by a large patch
of white; other under parts white, with wide transverse bands of
reddish-brown, varying in shade in different specimens; legs and under
tail-coverts white; quills light brown, with yellowish-white spots on
their outer edges, and reddish-white bands on their inner webs; tail
pale brown, with about six irregular bands of yellowish-white; face
yellowish-white; bill light yellow and horn-color; irides yellow.
Young. Entire plumage much darker than the adult, and with transverse
narrow bands and lines of dark brown.
Dimensions. _Male._—Total length, 9 to 10 inches; wing, 7; tail, 4
inches. _Female._—Larger.
Hab. Western North America. Oregon (Dr. Townsend); Nebraska (Dr.
Suckley); Arkansas, Texas, New Mexico (Col. McCall); Great Salt Lake
(Capt. Stansbury); California (Dr. Heermann); Mexico (Lieut. Couch).
Spec. in Mus. Acad., Philada., and Nat. Mus., Washington city.
Obs. This curious Owl is very abundant in some localities in Western
America, where it lives in communities in burrows in the ground. It is
nearly related to several South American species, especially to _Athene
cunicularia_, which is a native of the western countries of that portion
of this continent.
We have doubts that fig. 1 of Mr. Audubon’s plate 432 represents this
bird, but think it probable that it represents one of the South American
species, which fig. 2 of the same plate clearly does. Dr. Townsend’s
collection, specimens from which were figured by Mr. Audubon, contained
birds of Chili and Peru, as well as of North America, from which
circumstance the error may have occurred.