The Raymer enterprise., 1913-12-04

hawks during The nesting season, and discovered
the fact. new to science. that they prey upon
birds well on mammals over the "hole
course OF his observations until the young birds
had flown, prairie dogs were found largely TO ex'
coed all other diet: but until the nestlngs were
about two weeks old their food consisted partly
OF mcadOwlarks lSturnea neglecta). Nhie
very little food was found In the nest taking into
consideration the frequent visits paid to it, there
were seen altogether nine prairie dogs, one cot
ton.,al rabbit. two bull snakes lone 81 inches
long, and some remains Of sharptailed grouse
and meadowlarks. On two separate occasions.
while MIR FELTON, kept watch near the eyrie, the
wary female frequently passed and repassed over
head with meadowark in her talons, as subse'
quently identified, The bill OF fare at all four
eyries similar and mcadowlarks, as demon
strated by their down and feathers, were pro-
vided for the nestllngs The following interest.
ing collection OF remnants seen at one nest
Four prairie dog skulls. the skeletons OF two
bull snakes zone OF them being very large). the
leg OF a sharptaled grouse the wing and scapu.
lars Of Il maybe and the primaries OF meadow
lark Grouse and magpe remains were not found
until July Il and q. and were proved by the
feathers TO belong to young birds, To the best of
my knowledge, this species never attempts to
take poultry OF any kind. and my own observa-
tions are strongly confirmed by Mr. w. p. Sulli.
van, for lG years manager OF Mr.. Miners beau.
tIful Square Butte ranch, where these hawks have
always been protected on account OF the numer.
Gus gOphcrs CThomomys) which they destroy.
As above narrated several pair breed annually
upon the ranch and are constantly flying around
the buildings, yet no chickens have ever been
mocsod Mr. sullivan who is n close observer
Of nature. considers that after the young can
ny In the fall, these hawks subsist chiefly upon
EOphers, and he has described TO me their meth.
DDS OF capturing them as follows: IL have
watched the hawks often through glasses In our
alfalfa field after the first crop has been taken of
The pocket Gophers get pretty busy tunnellng
and pushing all the loose damp earth up In piles
on the surface The hawks ly slowly over the
field until they discover fresh pile OF damp
earth Here they will alIght softly, and walt for
the gopher to push close to the surface, They
will then spread their wings and, rising few
feet in the air, come down stncgged into the
loose earth, when tho gopher Is transflXed and
brought out. ! have seen them eat the gopher
whore caught, and at other times carry II away"
In the summer OF 1903 about an acre OF ground
at the Square Butte ranch was covered with piles
OF building material, such as lumber posts and
heavy shed tImbers which had been collected
there the previous year Numbers of co,ton.ta
rabbits lived under these piles. and provided an
occasional meal both for the hawks and for the
ranch cat which was a female tabby. On
certain day Mr Miner (owncr OF the ranch) hap.
pened to be engaged In conversation with Mr.
Sullivan near a pile OF posts upon which the
cat was basklng In the sun with one eye open
for chance. rabbit. as usual. ferruginous