8i 
intimacy and friendship. This is far from being the case, 
however, the evidence going to prove that the snake invades 
the home of the dog for the purpose of feeding upon the 
young, while the owl—to save itself the trouble of digging 
its own habitation—takes possession of the deserted burrows 
which are left in the gradual change of location which is 
continually going on among the dogs. Strong evidence was 
given of a natural enmity existing between the two, by the 
introduction of a pair of the owls into the enclosure of the 
dogs at the Garden,—they were instantly attacked by the lat¬ 
ter, and as their wings had been clipped, they were unable to 
get away, and although they fought desperately were finally 
killed. 
A small colony of the Burrowing Owls ( Spheotyto cunicul- 
aria hypogcea) is on the side of the walk directly opposite the 
Prairie Dogs. They are found on the plains west of the Mis¬ 
sissippi river and also in South America,—this bird being a 
variety of the South American form. 
Next to the Owls is a cage containing some Striped Goph¬ 
ers ( Spertnophilus tridecem-lineatus). The spermophiles form 
a large sub-group of the squirrel family : they live in burrows 
in the ground, but are directly connected with the tree squirrels 
by almost insensible gradations of form, one of which, the 
Line-tailed or Mexican Rock Squirrel (Spermophilus gram- 
inurus ), will be seen in a cage in the Carnivora House. It is 
difficult to distinguish this species, without close examination, 
from the true squirrels, which live in trees. The Striped Go¬ 
pher is found from western Michigan to the Missouri river 
and south to Arkansas. 
Richardson’s Spermophile (Spermophilusrichardsonii ), the 
Gray Gopher (Spermophilus franklinii), and the Pouched 
Gopher ( Geomys bursarius') are also North American forms. 
The Common Skunk (Mephitis mephitica) is a small carni¬ 
vore belonging to the Musteline group; it inhabits the United 
States from the Missouri river eastward,—the western and 
south-western parts of the country being infested by several 
other species, one of which ranges into South America. The 
true skunks are confined to the New World ; in them the anal 
glands characteristic of all the Mustelidce reach their most 
complete development, and secrete a fluid which the animal 
