The Audubon Societies 



241 



The Kingbird watched the performance, 

 and seemed to be more inquisitive than 

 vicious. Perhaps he wanted to show the 

 Sparrow how to do the trick, for he is an 

 expert at butchering grasshoppers. 



We were interested in seeing how Wood- 

 peckers adapted themselves to circum- 

 stances in Arizona. In this country they 

 find few trees in which to peck nesting- 

 places. As a substitute, they take to the 



Arizona is a land of extremes. We expect 

 to find gray and brown birds to match 

 the colors of the desert: we also find 

 birds of most brilliant hue. There are 

 also extremes in size. Here in the desert 

 lives the dwarf of all Owls, the little Elf 

 Owl. When we made his acquaintance, we 

 found he was not larger than an English 

 Sparrow. What a baby in comparison 

 to the Great Horned Owl! 



ELF OWL AXD THE LATE HERBERTrBROWX OF TUCSON 



giant cactus, and catching their toes in 

 the creases between the rows of thorns 

 proceed to dig into the spongy pulp. 

 -Almost every giant cactus is punctured 

 with one or more Woodpecker's holes. 

 After the hole is made, the sap oozes and 

 hardens, making a hard-shelled house that 

 is even more permanent than the cactus- 

 trunk itself. Oftentimes, when a giant 

 cactus falls to decay, one may pick up 

 one of these gourd-shaped homes that was 

 made by a Woodpecker many years ago. 



When the late Herbert Brown, who was 

 a splendid naturalist and outdoor man, 

 asked us to go Owl hunting, we accepted. 

 The next morning, he came early with a 

 team and light wagon. In the back he 

 had three short ladders, which I dis- 

 covered later had been built so they fitted 

 together and made a ladder long enough 

 to reach well up the tallest cactus. No 

 matter how expert one is at climbing, one 

 would have some difficulty in getting up 

 to the Elf Owls nest, for they prefer 



