V0L 1920 XVI1 ] Wetmore, Birds of Lake Burford, N. Mex. 399 



40. Falco sparverius phalaena (Lesson). Desert Sparrow-hawk. 

 The sparrowhawk was fairly common about Lake Burford and one or two 

 were seen daily. One fed much of the time on a small flat below the 

 cabin where it seemed to be catching the abundant grasshoppers. Often 

 it perched on anthills or clumps of dead rushes in default of other resting 

 places. On June 10 one was seen pursuing a magpie through a grove of 

 cedars, striking at it repeatedly. These little falcons delight in playing 

 with other hawks and were seen darting down at Redtails and Cooper's 

 Hawks as they circled about in the air. 



41. Bubo virginianus occidentalis Stone. Western Horned Owl. 

 Horned Owls were fairly common in the timbered gulches above Lake 

 Burford. On two occasions birds were heard hooting during the early 

 forenoon and June 15 several were heard calling in the evening. On 

 June 16 one was seen in a gulch east of the lake, and a large nest in the 

 top of a Yellow Pine nearby may have belonged to this bird. That even- 

 ing at dusk as I sat in the grove of Cottonwoods above the cabin a Great- 

 horn came flying down from the hills above and alighted in the top of a 

 tall dead tree over my head. It eyed me closely when I squeaked, but 

 soon lost interest and continued looking around. Once it scratched the 

 side of its head violently with one foot. After watching it a few minutes 

 I shot it and found that it was a female bird of large size. The wing 

 measured 405 millimeters, and the specimen appears to be typical of the 

 form B. v. occidentalis. 



42. Dryobates villosus (Linnaeus). Hairy Woodpecker. — Hairy 

 Woodpeckers were fairly common and were nesting in the forested bills 

 around Lake Burford. A male was seen drumming on a dead pine on 

 June 2 and a female was found near the same place on June 9. One was 

 observed in pines below the lake on June 11 and another came into the 

 grove of cottonwoods above the spring on June 17. None were taken. 



43. Sphyrapicus thyroideus (Cassin). Williamson's Sapsucker. 

 Fairly common among Yellow Pines on the hills above Lake Burford. 

 On June 2 I found a pair of these birds east of the lake. The female was 

 working steadily at a new row of drill holes in the bark of a Yellow Pine, 

 where the area covered by old pits was already a foot square. This pair 

 had a nesting hole driven in the trunk of a dead Yellow Pine about 50 

 feet from the ground, and the male remained on guard near it to prevent 

 House Wrens and Violet-green Swallows that were busy about other 

 cavities in the same tree from usurping it. He made little demonstration 

 save to fly down to the hole and look in when one of the other birds came 

 near it, but this was sufficient as they remained at a safe distance. After 

 each inspection he sidled around on the other side of the trunk from me. 

 The call note of this sapsucker is a low rattling keh-h-h given in a some- 

 what guttural tone. It resembles the call note of S. varius in a general 

 way but is given in a stronger, more decided manner, and is louder. On 

 June 16 a female in another location was working at a new row of pits 

 in a large limb of a Yellow Pine. 



