348 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA — ^EXPERIMENT STATION 



Tyler* found two pairs of barn owls nesting in an old tank house. 

 ' ' One nest was placed in the tank on the bones, fur, pellets, and refuse 

 that had accumulated to a depth of several inches. One bird was 

 perched on a beam overhead asleep, while his mate occupied the nest, 

 which contained four very small birds and six eggs. Scattered about 

 on the floor were five pocket gophers {Thomatnys) , five kangaroo rats 

 (Perodipus) , one pocket mouse (Perogiiathus), and two white-footed 

 mice (Peromyscus) , all of which were in good condition and un- 

 doubtedly of the previous night's capture. Besides these, there were 

 partly eaten remains and fresh skeletons pf several more. ... If the 

 thoughtless persons who so relentlessly destroy this owl on account 

 of its supposed fondness for chickens and pigeons would take the 

 trouble to keep watch of a nest-site through one season, the most 

 ignorant among them c6uld hardly fail to realize that they are working 

 against their own best interests whenever they kill a barn owl. ' ' 



The gopher or bull snake may steal eggs occasionally, but his main 

 diet consists of small rodents, chiefly gophers. A wise man will there- 

 fore protect the gopher snakes on his premises. Every gopher that 

 the ham owl or gopher snake destroys means one less for you to catch. 



OTHER METHODS OF CONTROL 



Some other methods of controlling pocket gophers are: (a) pro- 

 tecting trees with wire netting; (h) planting gopher-repellent plants; 

 (c) using rodent virus; {d) surrounding small plots by a trench; (e) 

 protection of ditches by cement. 



(a) Protecting Trees with Wire Netting 



One-inch mesh galvanized wire netting in the form of a cylinder 

 one foot in diameter and eighteen inches high may be placed about 

 young trees when they are planted, to protect them from the attacks 

 of gophers. The top of the netting should be put just below the surface 

 of the gi'ound, and the trunk of the tree above ground protected in some 

 other way so as not to interfere with shallow cultivation, which the 

 netting will certainly do if it sticks above ground. 



(6), (c) Gopher-Repellent Plants; Rodent Virus 



Plants which will drive gophers away, and a virus of a "gopher 

 infectious ' ' disease, have both been much exploited, but neither remedy 

 seems to have "made good" and neither can be recommended. 



* Condor, XVII, January, 1915, p. 57. 



