THE OOLOGIST 



207 



often spare himself a lot of unneces- 

 sary labor by examining the burrow 

 before digging, the presence or ab- 

 sence of fresh pellets showing wheth- 

 er or not the nest has recently been 

 occupied. 



The Burrowing Owl is of course 

 strictly carnivorous, feeding on mice, 

 gophers, young ground squirrels, liz- 

 ards, beetles, grasshoppers, and small 

 birds. We may well forgive him the 

 last item of his diet if we take into 

 consideration the numbers of injuri- 

 ous quadrupeds and insects that he 

 consumes. I have often seen our 

 bird hunting grasshoppers in the 

 broad daylight, but as a rule he re- 

 mains in the burrow during the day 

 and comes out to feed at dusk. 



The old "Happy Family" story of 

 how the Ground Owl, Rattle-snake, 

 and Prairie Dog lived together amic- 

 ably in the same long dwelling has 

 long since been disproven. It has 

 been shown that the Rattler enters 

 the Owl's burrow in search of eggs 

 and nestlings, while the unfortunate 

 young of the Prairie Dog falls a vic- 

 tim to both of his rapacious neigh- 

 bors. 



D. I. SHEPARDSON, 



Los Angeles, Cal. 



been hovering about in the air would 

 dart down near the loon and try to 

 snatch the fish away. 



George E. Gerald. 



COMMON TERN. 



Of late years the Terns have be- 

 come very plentiful on Sparrow Lake, 

 Muskoka, usually making their ap- 

 pearance during the middle of Au- 

 gust and departing towards the end 

 of September. I frequently see them 

 in small flocks, either resting on a 

 rock or on a floating log off shore, or 

 flying gracefully about in the air, ut- 

 tering their grating te-arr, te-arr. 



Last summer I witnessed what ap- 

 peared to be a common habit with 

 them of following a loon about and 

 when it would come to the. surface 

 with a small fish the Terns who had 



THE CAT QUESTION. 

 I have noticed all along and have 

 read with interest many articles on 

 the cat question in the Oologist and 

 other journals. I say by all means 

 rid us as far as possible of the pesty 

 cat. Most cats are wholly or partly 

 starved and birds at once more at- 

 tractive and mice more secretive, 

 they almost invariably select the 

 bird. Most people will ask "what 

 would we do without cats, and one 

 needs one or two about." No they 

 don't. A good screech owl is worth 

 a dozen cats and as for rats not one 

 cat in twenty will tackle a rat. What 

 are we to do with the rat then? I'll 

 tell you, get and keep a pair of the 

 common little guinea pigs and you 

 will never be troubled with rats and 

 the guinea pig never disturbs birds. 

 I propose in the near future to do as 

 some others are doing; to always 

 carry a small rifle in the field, a 

 Stevens 22 or a Winchester 25 and 

 pick off every cat I see. They won't 

 be missed and I like cats too. 



George W. vos Burgh. 



Migratory Notes taken Fall 1915 by 

 J. B. Ellis, Chokoloskee, Fla. 



No. 494 Bobolinks, numerous 9-1-15. 



No. 573 Prairie Warbler, 3 speci- 

 mens 9-20-15. 



No. 656 Audubon Warbler, 2 speci- 

 mens 9-21-15. 



No. 611 Purple Martin, 1 specimen 

 9-24-15. 



No. 601 Painted Bunting, 2 speci- 

 mens 9-24-15. 



No. 687 Redstart, 1 specimen 9-24- 

 15. 



Number of Vireos and Warblers 

 can't identify without killing them 

 9-25-15. 



