coverts are pure white, often, but not always, with a few rusty spots, constituting the so called white rump, which is a constant mark of the species in all its states of plumage. The throat, breast, belly, vent, and femorals, pale yellowish rusty, streaked lengthwise with large acuminate brown spots darker and larger on the breast, and especially the under wing-coverts, obsolete on the lower parts of the body, which are not spotted. The quills are dark brown, whitish on the inner vane, and transversely banded with blackish; the bands are much more conspicuous on the inferior surface, where the ground colour is grayish white. The tail is of a bright yellowish rusty, the two middle tail-feathers dark cinereous; all are pure white at the origin, and regularly crossed with four or five broad blackish bands; their tips are more whitish, and the inferior surface of a grayish white, like that of the quills, but very slightly tinged with rusty, the blackish bands appearing to great advantage, except on the outer feathers, where they are obsolete, being less defined even above.

The young male is almost perfectly similar in appearance to the adult female, (which is not the case in the ash-coloured harrier,) being, however, more varied with rusty, and easily distinguished by its smaller size. It is in this state that Wilson has taken the species, his very accurate description being that of a young female. The male retains this plumage until he is two years old, after which he gradually assumes the gray plumage peculiar to the adult: of course they exhibit almost as many gradations as specimens, according to their more or less advanced age. The ash and white appear varied or mingled with rusty; the wings, and especially the tail, exhibiting more or less indications of the bands of the young plumage. The male, when he may be called already adult, varies by still exhibiting the remains of bands on the tail, more or less marked or obliterated by the yellowish edges of the feathers of the back and wings, and especially by retaining on the hindhead a space tinged with rusty, with blackish spots. This space is more or less indicated, in the greater part, both of the

American and European specimens I have examined. Finally, they are known by retaining traces of the yellowish of the inferior surface in larger or smaller spots, chiefly on the belly, flanks, and under tail-coverts. The hen-harrier's favourite haunts are rich and extensive plains, and low grounds. Though preferring open and champaign countries, and seeming to have an antipathy to forests, which it always shuns, it does not, like the ash-coloured harrier, confine itself to marshes, but is also seen in dry countries, if level. We are

informed by Wilson, that it is much esteemed by the southern planters, for the services it renders in preventing the depredations of the rice-birds upon their crops. Cautious and vigilant, it is not only by the facial disk that this bird approaches the owls, but also by a habit of chasing in the morning and evening, at twilight, and occasionally at night when the moon shines. Falconers reckon it among the ignoble hawks. Cruel, though cowardly, it searches every where for victims, but selects them only among weak and helpless objects. It preys on moles, mice, young birds, and is very destructive to game; and does not spare fishes, snakes, insects, or even worms. Its flight is always low, but, notwithstanding, rapid, smooth, and buoyant. It is commonly observed sailing over marshes, or perched on trees near them, whence it pounces suddenly upon its prey. When it has thus struck at an object, if it re-appears quickly from the grass or reeds, it is a proof that it has missed its aim; for, if otherwise, its prey is devoured on the spot.

It breeds in open wastes, frequently in thick furze coverts, among reeds, marshy bushes, the low branches of trees, but generally on the ground. The nest is built of sticks, reeds, straw, leaves, and similar materials heaped together, and is lined with feathers, hair, or other soft substances; it contains from three to six, but generally four or five, pale bluish-white eggs, large and round at each end; the young are born covered with white down, to which succeed small feathers of a rust colour, varied with brown and black. If any one

approaches the nest during the period of rearing the young, the parents evince the greatest alarm, hovering around, and expressing their anxiety by repeating the syllables, geg, geg, gag; or ge, ge, ne, ge, ge. Crows manifest a particular hostility to this species, and destroy numbers of their nests.

The hen-harrier is widely spread over both continents, perhaps more than any other land bird, though it is no where remarkably numerous. In the northern countries of America, it is a migratory species, extending its wanderings from Florida to Hudson's Bay. It is not known to breed in the Northern, or even in the Middle States, where the adults are but rarely seen. In the Southern parts of the Union, and especially in Florida, they are rather common in all their varieties of plumage. The species is also found in the West Indies, Cayenne, and probably has an extensive range in South America. It is found throughout Britain, Germany, Italy, the north of Africa, and the northern portion of Asia. It is very common in France and the Netherlands, is found in Russia and Sweden, but does not inhabit the north of Norway, being by no means an Arctic bird. It is again met with in the southern parts of Africa, near the Cape of Good Hope, and is not uncommon all along the eastern coast of that continent. In Switzerland, and other mountainous countries, it is of very rare

Occurrence.

GENUS III.-STRIX, LINNÆUS.

4. STRIX CUNICULARIA, MOLINA.—BURROWING OWL, Bonap. BONAPARTE, PLATE VII. FIG. II.

VENERABLE ruins, crumbling under the influence of time and vicissitudes of season, are habitually associated with our recollections of the owl; or he is considered as the tenant of sombre forests, whose nocturnal gloom is rendered deeper and more awful by the harsh dissonance of his voice. In poetry he has long been regarded as the appropriate concomitant of darkness and horror; and, when heard screaming from the top

most fragments of some mouldering wall, whose ruggedness is but slightly softened by the mellowing moonlight, imagination loves to view him as a malignant spirit, hooting triumphantly over the surrounding desolation ! But we are now to make the reader acquainted with an owl to which none of these associations can belong; a bird that, so far from seeking refuge in the ruined habitations of man, fixes its residence within the earth; and, instead of concealing itself in solitary recesses of the forest, delights to dwell on open plains, in company with animals remarkable for their social disposition, neatness, and order. Instead of sailing heavily forth in the obscurity of the evening or morning twilight, and then retreating to mope away the intervening hours, our owl enjoys the broadest glare of the noonday sun, and, flying rapidly along, searches for food or pleasure during the cheerful light of day.

The votaries of natural science must always feel indebted to the learned and indefatigable Say, for the rich collection of facts he has made whenever opportunities have been presented, but more especially in the instance of this very singular bird, whose places of resort in this country are too far distant to allow many the pleasure of examining for themselves. We feel doubly disposed to rejoice that the materials for the history of our bird are drawn from his ample store, both on account of their intrinsic excellence, and because it affords us an opportunity of evincing our admiration of the zeal, talents, and integrity, which have raised this man to the most honourable and enviable eminence as a naturalist.

In the trans-Mississippian territories of the United States, the burrowing owl resides exclusively in the villages of the Marmot, or Prairie Dog, whose excavations are so commodious, as to render it unnecessary that our bird should dig for himself, as he is said to do in other parts of the world, where no burrowing animals exist. These villages are very numerous, and variable in their extent, sometimes covering only a few acres, and at others spreading over the surface of the country

for miles together. They are composed of slightly elevated mounds, having the form of a truncated' cone, about two feet in width at base, and seldom rising as high as eighteen inches above the surface of the soil. The entrance is placed either at the top or on the side, and the whole mound is beaten down externally, especially at the summit, resembling a much-used footpath.

From the entrance, the passage into the mound descends vertically for one or two feet, and is thence continued obliquely downwards, until it terminates in an apartment, within which the industrious marmot constructs, on the approach of the cold season, the comfortable cell for his winter's sleep. This cell, which is composed of fine dry grass, is globular in form, with an opening at top capable of admitting the finger; and the whole is so firmly compacted, that it might, without injury, be rolled over the floor.

It is delightful, during fine weather, to see these lively little creatures sporting about the entrance of their burrows, which are always kept in the neatest repair, and are often inhabited by several individuals. When alarmed, they immediately take refuge in their subterranean chambers, or, if the dreaded danger be not immediately impending, they stand near the brink of the entrance, bravely barking and flourishing their tails, or else sit erect to reconnoitre the movements of the enemy.

The mounds thrown up by the marmot in the neighbourhood of the Rocky Mountains, have an appearance of greater antiquity than those observed on the far distant plains. They sometimes extend to several yards in diameter, although their elevation is trifling, and, except immediately surrounding the entrance, are clothed with a scanty herbage which always distinguishes the area of these villages. Sometimes several villages have been observed almost entirely destitute of vegetation, and, recollecting that the marmot feeds exclusively on grasses and herbaceous plants, it seems singular that this animal should always choose the