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 
