The American Barn Owl 



when closely pressed, and one soon comes to see what a powerful as 

 well as alert foe the wicked gopher has to fear. Their feeding habits, also, 

 are not fastidious. The rending of a rat carcass would be a terrifying 

 sight if the birds were, say, a hundred times as large. The head of the 

 victim goes down first, probably because the brains are the most delec- 

 table morsel, and the rest follows piecemeal, "hide, horns and hair." 

 But the case is not hopeless, for punctual to the minute the skull reap- 

 pears, and later the clothes of the late lamented, done up in a neat pack- 

 age. Thomomys, he of the tireless tooth, who loves our choicest vege- 

 tables and most expensive flower-bulbs, he shall have, thus, a befitting 

 monument, — the skull and bundle. Hail, beneficent deliverer! Queen 

 of the Night ! 



Taken in San Bernardino County 



SHAKE HANDS! 



Photo by Wright M. Pierce 



1079 



