DIVISION EIGHT — SCIENCE. 59 1 



in a chamber hollowed at the end of their burrows. This chamber is 

 usually close to the surface of the ground, or, anyway, higher than the gal- 

 lery which leads to it. This is probably to protect it from being flooded 

 during rain storms. The burrowing owl generally fits up a squirrel's hole 

 for its use, but never lives "in the same hole with the squirrels or snakes," 

 as is commonly believed ; for, on the contrary, it is a great enemy of the 

 squirrels, often following down their burrows and killing their young. It 

 also eats Jerusalem crickets and small birds. The color of this owl as seen 

 at a distance is a light brownish gray. The smallest and rarest of our owls 

 is the California pygmy owl. [W. H. Wakeley says it is the smallest owl 

 in the world.] Its home is in the higher mountains, but it is not uncom- 

 monly seen in winter lower down in the near canyons. The food of this 

 owl appears to be entirely grasshoppers. The spotted owl is another rare 

 bird occasionally found in the mountains. 



The Road Runner is a bird peculiar to the southwest. It is very 

 common here, where it haunts the dry mesas and Arroyo beds. It belongs 

 to the cuckoo family, though it is a very much modified branch. On its 

 foot two toes point forward and two backward; hence its tracks can easily 

 be recognized from those of any other of our birds. The length of the 

 road-runner is about two feet, of which the tail occupies nearly a foot. 

 With the exception of a steel-blue crest which ornaments the head, the 

 feathers on most of the body are bright green, bordered with white. 

 This bird is noted for its swift running, as it is said to be able to baffle a 

 hound. It eats snakes and lizards. In the stomach of one road-runner I 

 found four lizards, each eight inches long. The bird batters the heads of its 

 victims on the ground, and then swallows them whole. 



Note. — Of this rare creature. Van Dyke says ; 



"About the only bird having no representative on the Atlantic coast 

 is the " chapparal-cock," "road-runner," or paisano, as the native Califor- 

 nians call it. It looks much like a cross between a hawk and a hernshaw ; 

 long-geared, long-tailed, and swift of foot, white, gray, and blue, with a 

 bluish top knot, and a long bill. Though generally deemed unfit to eat, it 

 is really one of the fattest and finest-flavored birds we have, in spite of its 

 diet of centipedes, lizards, and scorpions. It is an interesting bird, easily 

 tamed, and may be made a great pet. It is quite harmless, and is rarely 

 shot, except by fool tourists who think it the proper thing to murder every- 

 thing they see." 



Mr. Will H. Wakeley, Pasadena's pioneer taxidermist, relates that 

 once while driving up North lyake Avenue he saw a road-runner scamper- 

 ing up the street dragging a long gopher snake in its bill. After keeping 

 ahead of him for a while, it turned off" into an apricot orchard and com- 

 menced making violent and rapid up-and-down motions. He went to see 

 what the creature was doing, and found it had threshed the snake upon the 

 ground and beaten the life out of it. Mr. Road-runner was preparing his 



