Pocket-gopher 571 



Most of the Gophers rest while the sun is high. In xoc- 

 Colorado I have heard fossor digging under my bed in camp at 

 night and in the early morning. Fresh mounds are found at 

 dawn over the tunnels of all the species I have observed, 

 namely, talpoiJes, fossor, monticola, and hotta. 



Of course it matters little to this child of the dark world 

 whether the other world be bright or not when he works, and 

 yet there is little doubt that at night his upheavals are less 

 likely to catch the eyes of watchful foes. 



This does not mean that the Gopher never toils by day. 

 Early morning and late evening are favorite times with tal- 

 poides in Manitoba. Indeed, it is always ready to toil except 

 in the hours of extreme heat, and I have known a continued 

 temperature of 90 degrees in the shade to stop all upheavals 

 for some days. 



Frequently, possibly every night, the Gopher quits the 

 burrow and sallies forth into the open air, foraging for 

 grain and foods not attainable underground. These it 

 crams hastily into its pouches, then retires to its burrow 

 to consume them. The cover of night is essential to these 

 expeditions; they are seldom made in broad daylight, though 

 they may be undertaken in twilight or by the light of the 

 moon. 



In Fisher's report on "Food of Hawks and Owls"^ I find 

 12 cases cited in which hawks had preyed on Pocket-gophers, 

 and only 8 in which owls had done so; but there were a vast 

 number of hawk observations and comparatively few for the 

 owls. 



On May 5, 1887, my friend, Miller Christy, wrote 

 me from Western Manitoba: "To-day I found a nest of 

 horned owls in a poplar tree on the open prairie. Besides 

 the two fledgling birds, it contained the remains of 20 

 Pocket-gophers in various stages of decay." The horned 

 owl is a night feeder. I have never taken a Gopher from 

 a hawk. 



In California, the food of the barn owl, according to Clark 



^ Bull. 3, Div. Cm. & Mam. U. S. Dep. Agr., 1893. 



