The burrows into which we have seen the owl descend, resembled in all respects those of the prairie-dog, leading us to suppose, either that they were common, though, perhaps not friendly occupants of the same burrow, or that the owl was the exclusive tenant of a burrow gained by right of conquest. But it is at the same time possible, that, as in Chili, the owl may excavate his own tenement. From the remarkable coincidence of note between these two widely distinct animals, we might take occasion to remark the probability of the prairie-dog being an unintentional tutor to the young owl, did we not know that this bird utters the same sounds in the West Indies, where the prairie-dog is not known to exist. It may be that more than a single species of diurnal owl has been confounded under the name of _cunicularia_, as Vieillot states his bird to be somewhat different from that of Molina; and we cannot but observe that the eggs of the bird described by the latter are spotted with yellow, whilst those of the former are immaculate. As our specimens do not in all respects correspond with the descriptions by the above-mentioned authors, of the Coquimbo owl, we have thought proper to subjoin such particulars as seem necessary to be noted, in addition to the description already given by those authors. The general colour is a light burnt brown spotted with white; the larger feathers five or six-banded with white, each band more or less widely interrupted by the shaft, and their immediate margins darker than the other portions of the feathers; the {228} tips of these feathers are white or whitish; the exterior primary feather is serrated, shorter than the three succeeding ones, and equal in length to the fifth; the bill is tinged with yellow on the ridges of both mandibles; the tarsi and feet distinctly granulated, the former naked behind, furnished before, near the base, with dense, short feathers, which, towards the toes, become less crowded, and assume the form of single hairs; those on the toes are absolutely setaceous and scattered; the lobes beneath the toes are large and granulated. On the plains about our encampment, were numerous natural mounds, greatly resembling some of the artificial works so common in the central portions of the great valley of the Mississippi. About the summits of these mounds, were numerous petrifactions, which were found to be almost exclusively casts of bivalve shells approaching the genus cytherea, and usually from one half to one and an half inches in width.