122 The Pocket Gopher. 



mating season. This statement is not in accordance with my 

 observations, for I have on several occasions trapped a second 

 gopher by resetting at the same opening into a burrow. This 

 was in the early fall, too ; not in the mating season. 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



Since the pocket gopher so seldom shows itself outside of its 

 subterranean galleries, it has little to fear from the natural 

 enemies of the rodent race. It is not entirely safe from attack, 

 however, for a few sharp-eyed and vigilant foes habitually 

 capture numbers of gophers when they come to the mouths of 

 their burrows to push out a load of earth. Hawks and owls 

 take toll at these favorable moments, and many a house cat 

 has learned the trick of capturing a meal then with little diffi- 

 culty. 



The gopher's habit of confining active operations in mining 

 mainly to the hours of twilight particularly favors the owl and 

 the cat. The Great Horned owl, the Long-eared owl, and the 

 Barn owl, particularly the last named, render valuable service 

 in keeping down the numbers of these destructive rodents. A 

 single pair of owls, nesting on the farm, has been known to 

 destroy scores of gophers in a brief season. Sometimes they 

 live on nothing else for a time, as evidenced by the pellets of 

 bones and fur which, like most birds of prey, they invariably 

 disgorge after a meal. 



Instances of a house cat becoming addicted to the gopher 

 habit are not uncommon. In a number of cases that were re- 

 ported directly to me, mother cats brought in several gophers 

 a day, regularly as clockwork, to their families of kittens. In 

 many instances of reported gopher catching, however, the in- 

 formant has had in mind the little striped "gopher" or ground- 

 squirrel. 



Two enemies that, in some localities, are said to hold the 

 pocket gopher in check more than all others are the weasel and 

 the bull-snake. The former is too scarce in most parts of Kan- 

 sas to be worth considering in this relation ; but the bull-snake 

 is common enough on farms whose owners or tenants have had 

 the wisdom and forethought to protect the natural enemies of 

 the destructive rodent tribe. The snake would, of course, be 

 able to gain entrance to the gopher's burrow only when the 

 latter was temporarily left open; but once inside he would 

 probably remain there for some time and make things inter- 



