These were the burrowing owls (_Strix cunicularia_), differing altogether from their blind cousins of the night who dwell in thick woods and old ruins.

He saw these little owls gliding about on silent wing, or standing erect upon the tops of the houses, at a distance looking exactly like the marmots themselves.
Besides the marmots and owls there were other live creatures in sight.
There were small lizards scuttling about; and crawling among the mounds was seen a hideous form--also of the lizard kind--the "horned frog" (_Agama cornuta_).

These creatures were new to Basil; and their ugly earth-coloured bodies, their half-toad half-lizard shape, with the thorn like protuberances, upon their back, shoulders, and head, inspired him with disgust as he gazed upon them.

He could see, too, the small land-tortoise (_Cistuda_) squatting upon the ground, and peeping cautiously out of its box-like shell.

But there was another creature in this community more fearful than all the rest.