310 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YO SEMITE 



as well during the midnight hours. Heard out of doors during the middle 

 of the night, their heavy voices leave an impression long retained. The 

 time of their appearance varies with the season. At Lagrange in December 

 they were out and hooting by 4:30 p.m., while in midsummer they were 

 not to be heard until 7 o'clock or later. On dark days they were occasion- 

 ally heard during the daytime. Usually, with the coming of dawn the 

 birds seek shelter in tall dense-foliaged trees where they spend the day 

 in quiet. 



The Pacific Horned Owl has a reputation for feeding on poultry, 

 particularly in outlying communities where the fowls are in the habit 

 of roosting in the trees in the barnyard. Mr. George Smith, our packer, 

 told us that in his experience a horned owl would not ordinarily pounce 

 directly down on a sleeping hen, but ''would alight on a limb where a 

 number of chickens were roosting. Then it would crowd against the birds 

 until the one on the opposite side was forced to fly," whereupon the owl 

 would also take wing and catch its prey when the latter was in motion. 



Mr. Donald D. McLean says that a horned owl taken 8 miles northeast 

 of Coulterville was captured in a rabbit snare on the ground. At Aspen 

 Valley we found the mummified remains of a homed owl impaled on a 

 barbed wire fence. One wing was broken and literally wrapped around 

 the middle wire of the fence. Evidently the owl had hit the fence while 

 in flight and its struggles to get free had but fixed its feathers more firmly 

 on the barbs of the wire. 



Burrowing Owl. Speotyto cnnicularia hypogaea (Bonaparte) 



Field characters. — Size small for an owl; about twice bulk of Meadowlark; head 

 rounded, no ear tufts (fig. 39i). Plumage light brown and white in mixed pattern; eyes 

 yellow. Voice: A mellow two-syllabled call, cucTc-oo, uttered over and over again; heard 

 most often at dusk during the spring months. 



Occurrence. — Common resident in Lower and Upper Sonoran zones; noted by us 

 only west of Sierra Nevada. Lives in open country in and about ground squirrel 

 burrows. 



The Burrowing Owl, locally known as 'billy owl,' and perhaps better 

 called 'ground owl,' is to be looked for confidently on the plains of the 

 San Joaquin Valley and on such larger tracts of level land as are to be 

 found among the foothills. Living in the open and being active during 

 part of the day as well as all the night, this owl is likely to be seen by 

 anyone traversing its habitat. It frequents the vicinity of ground squirrel 

 burrows, both for shelter and for nesting sites. 



Occasionally individuals are to be seen perched on fence posts at the 

 edges of fields or pastures, and from these vantage points they watch for 

 insects in the surrounding grasslands. As a person walks past at close 



