110 Kansas Academy of Science. 



Geomys bursarius is most abundant in the region drained by the 

 Kansas river and the lower courses of its main tributaries. The 

 area of greatest infestation is also shown to include that portion of 

 the Arkansas Valley east of Great Bend, but here the plains species 

 is the more abundant. A personal survey of the valleys of the 

 Kansas, the Blue, the Republican, the Solomon, the Smoky Hill 

 and the lower Arkansas confirms the evidence of the map to which 

 I have referred. Southeastern Kansas seems to be comparatively 

 free from the pest, at least in numbers sufficient to make it trouble- 

 some. In this region and along the south-central border of the 

 state the range of G. hursarius probably meets that of the Louisi- 

 ana pocket gopher, Geomys hreviceps. The evidence of this is 

 shown by specimens from the valley of the Ninnescah — now in the 

 zoological collection at Washington — having some characteristics 

 of both species. 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



Since the pocket gopher so seldom shows itself outside of its 

 subterranean galleries, it has little to fear from the natural enemies 

 of the rodent race. It is not entirely safe from attack, however, for 

 a few sharp-eyed and vigilant foes habitually capture numbers of 

 gophers when they come to the mouths of their burrows to push 

 out a load of earth. Hawks and owls take toll at these favorable 

 moments, and many a house cat has learned the trick of capturing 

 a meal then with little difficulty. 



The gopher's habit of confining active operations in mining 

 mainly to the hours of twilight particularly favors the owl and the 

 cat. The Great Horned owl, the Long-eared owl, and the Barn 

 owl, particularly the last named, render valuable service in keeping 

 down the numbers of these destructive rodents. A single pair of 

 owls, nesting on the farm, have been known to destroy scores of 

 gophers in a brief season. Sometimes they live on nothing else 

 for a time, as evidenced by the pellets of bones and fur which they, 

 like most birds of prey, invariably disgorge after a meal. 



Instances of a house cat becoming addicted to the gopher habit are 

 not uncommon. In a number of cases that were reported directly 

 to me, mother cats brought in several gophers a day, regularly as 

 clockwork, to their families of kittens. In many instances of re- 

 ported gopher-catching, however, the informant has had in mind 

 the little striped "gopher," or ground squirrel. 



Two enemies that in some localities are said to hold the pocket 

 gopher in check more than all others are the weasel and the bull 

 snake. The former is too scarce in most parts of Kansas to be 



