HORNED OWLS, ETC.: PALLID HORNED OWL 323 
complete skeleton of an Owl was picked up on the cave floor.” In 
several less frequented neighboring caves the Owls were “nesting in 
high niches, well back in the gloomy twilight, safe from prowling enemies 
and safe from man as long as they would sit tight and not reveal their 
presence.” One brooding mother outside the cave was “so protected 
by her mottled dress that when her big yellow eyes were shut she 
might well have passed for part of the cliff.” 
In another cliff nest, Mr. Bailey says, were “three snow-white downy 
young, only a few days old, with big, wobbly heads, blinking eyes, 
strong legs, and hooked claws, already useful in clinging to the nest 
and rocks. The mother bird was covering them with her warm breast 
feathers and refused to leave until I came within a few feet of her, and 
then only after savagely snapping her bill at me. She hissed, and 
puffed her feathers, in dire threats that would have been heeded had 
I not been well balanced on the shelf, from which I hoped to get a 
photograph of the owlets. Having once long ago felt the claws of a 
mother owl in my back while approaching her young, I had no desire 
to repeat the experience. So I took my snapshots quickly and crawled 
back along the narrow shelf, but not before the anxious mother had 
returned, bringing her mate with her to help drive off the enemy. 
Both came close, hooting and snapping their bills at me in threatening 
tones as I hurried down over the rocks to allay their fears and let them 
go back to the young, which were already shivering in the cold wind. 
The mother was soon back on the nest, sheltering the young, while 
the old male hooted occasionally from a neighboring rock as I remained 
below to study the scraps from their table.” At the base of the cliff, 
pellets of fur and bones regurgitated from the stomachs of the Owls, 
and numberless bones of small animals scattered over the ground from 
old disintegrated pellets, told the long story of their nightly catches. 
Examination of the pellets and bones from different caves and cliffs 
showed variation depending on the local abundance of prey, but 
“represented practically the whole rodent and small animal population 
of the region. The check on the over-abundance of these rodent 
pests “is of vital importance in an arid region devoted to agriculture 
and grazing” (1928a, pp. 142-145). 
While in some places in New Mexico our collectors have heard 
complaints that these Owls killed chickens, the stomach contents of 
specimens taken revealed, instead, mole crickets, mud puppies, mice, 
and rabbits. A stomach examined by Major Goldman contained a 
full grown cottontail, including the feet, ears, and parts of the skull, 
while another contained wads of fur and part of the vertebrae of a 
jack rabbit (MS). If, as Doctor Fisher has pointed out, ranchmen would 
shut up their chickens at night, they would avoid trouble and continue 
to get the benefit of the good work done by the hawks and owls. 
