Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1913-12-05

hawks during the nesting season, and discovered
the fact, new to science, that they prey upon
birds as we'll as on mammals. over the WHY
course of his observations until the young birds
had flown, prairie dogs were found largely 10 ~
coed all other diet; but until the neslllhss were
about two weeks old. their food consisted Patty
of meadowlarks (Sturnella neglected.. WINE
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 COZ
ton-tail rabbit. two bull snakes tone 81 lhcheS
long, and some remains Of sharp-talled grouse
and meadowlarks. On two sepH"ate occasions,
while Mr.. FELTON, kept watch near the eyrle, the
wary female frequently passed and repassed over
head with a meadOwlark in her talons, as suisse
Ouentlv identified. The bill of fare at all -FOUR
evries was similar, and meadowlarks, as demon
strated by their down and feathers, were pro
vided for the n~estlings. The following interest
ing collection of remnants was seen at one nest:
-Four prairie dog skulls. the skeletons ui Two
bull snakes Zone of them being very large). the
leg of a sharp-tailed grouse, the wing and. scapu-
lars of a magpie and the primaries or a meadow
lark. Grouse and magpie remains were not found
until July II 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-
tons are strongly confirmed by Mr.. w. z. Sulll-
van, for 16 years manager of Mr.. Miners beau
tiful Square Butte ranch, where these hawks have
always been protected on account of the numer-
Gus gophers (Thomomys) which they destroy.
AS above narrated, several pair breed annually
upon the dHCu anu an NOilSbohIiy AsA'S NON-
the buildings, yet no chickens have ever been
molested. Mr.. Sullivan, who is a close observer
of nature, considers that, after the young can
fly in the fall, these hawks subsist chiefly upon
gOphers. 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 off
The pocket gophers get pretty busy tunnellng,
and pushing all the loose damp earth up in piles
on the surface. The hawks fly slowly over the
field until they discover a fresh pile OF damp
earth. Here they viii alight softly, and wait for
the gopher to push close TO the surface. They
will then spread their wings and, rising a few
feet in the air, come down stiff-legged into the
loose earth, when the gopher is transixed and
brought out. l have seen ITEM eat the gopher
where caught, and at other times carry 1t 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 cotton-tail
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 a
certain day Mr.. Miner (owner of the rancn) hap
pened to be engaged in conversation with Mr..
Sullivan near a pile of posts, upon which the
cat was basking in the sun with one eye open
for a chance rabbit, as usual. A ferruginous