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"Volume XI September-October 1909 Number 5 
SOME OWLS ALONG THE GILA RIVER IN ARIZONA 
By M. FRENCH GILMAN 
WITH FIVE PHOTOS 
D URING the season of 1908 and 1909 I made the following notes on the owls 
found at the points here named, on the Pima Reservation in Arizona: 
Blaekwater, 1362 feet altitude; Sacaton, 1275 feet; and Agua Caliente, 380 
feet. Up to date six species have been noted: Western Horned Owl ( Bubo vir- 
ginianns pallescens) , Barn Owl ( Ahtco pratincola) , Spotted Screech Owl ( Otus 
tri chop sis) , Burrowing Owl (Speotyto cunicularia hypogaea) , Ferruginous Pigmy 
Owl ( Glcmcidium phalaetwides) and Elf Owl ( Micro pa Has zvhitneyi) . 
Of these the Western Horned is most in evidence, both to eye and ear, tho 
perhaps not more numerous than some of the others. The Pima Indians call this 
bird Chu koot, and say it is the soul, spirit, or reincarnation of some of their dead. 
Their ideas on the subject seem rather hazy, and it is hard to get at just what they 
do believe on the question. Since a certain interview with a very intelligent 
Indian in California, I have been rather skeptical in regard to what Indians tell 
about their peculiar beliefs and notions. I was commenting to this Indian about 
a certain paper that had appeared wherein he wos quoted concerning some Indian 
superstitions, etc. He laughed heartily and said, “Oh, when those people ask us a 
lot of fool questions we tell them most anything; we give them a good fill !’’ 
Western Horned Owls are found mostly in cottonwood trees along the river, 
and at night range out on the alfalfa fields in search of gophers. I have seen them 
also in bluffs and cliffs on the rocky hills a few miles from the river. At Black- 
water and Sacaton they are very numerous, but at Agua Caliente only one was 
seen, that on a rocky hillside. A favorite perch of the bird is the roof of a build' 
ing, and there they sit and murder sleep in the most approved fashion, along about 
2 A. m. I have been obliged to get up repeatedly and go out and throw rocks at 
them in order to get my normal amount of slumber. 
The eggs are often placed in an old nest of the Red-tailed Hawk, in a cotton- 
wood tree or a giant cactus ( Cereus giganteus) . The photo, taken by S. C. Mason 
of the Department of Agriculture and used by his courtesy, show r s a nest in a big 
