THE. CO.IB.R Volume Xl September=October 1909 Number SOME OWLS ALONG THE GILA RIVER IN ARIZONA By M. FRENCH GILMAN WITH FIVE PHOTOS URING the season of 1908 and 1909 I made the following notes on the owls found at the points here named, on the Pima Reservation in Arizona: Blackwater, 1362 feet altitude; Sacaton, 1275 feet; and Agua Caliente, 380 feet. Up to date six species have been noted: Western Horned Owl (Bubo vir- g?inianus pallescens), Barn Owl ( Aluco praHncola) , Spotted Screech Owl ( Otus lricholSsis), Burrowing Owl ( 515eotylo cunicularia hy?bo?aea), Ferruginous Pigmy Owl ( Glaucidium phalaenoides) and Elf Owl (Micropallas whilneyi). Of these the Western Horned is most in evidence, both to eye and ear, tho perhaps not more numerous than some of the others. The Pima Indians call this bird Chfi koot, and say it is the soul, spirit, or reincarnation of some of their dead. Their ideas on the subject seem rather hazy, and it is hard to get at just what they do believe on the question. Since a certain interview with a very intelligent Indian in California, I have been rather skeptical in regard to what Indian"tell about their peculiar beliefs and notions. I was commenting to this Indian about a certain paper that had appeared wherein he was quoted concerning some Indian superstitions, etc. He laughed heartily and said, "Oh, when those people ask us a lot of fool questions we tell them most anything; we give them a good fill !" Western Horned Owls are found mostly in cottonwood trees along the river, and at night range out on the alfalfa fields in search of gophers. I have seen them also in bluffs and cliffs on the rocky hills a few miles from the river. At Black- water and Sacaton they are very numerous, but at Agua Caliente only one was seen, that on a rocky hillside. A favorite perch of the bird is the roof of a build- ing, and there they sit and murder sleep in the most approved fashion, along about 2 x. ?. I have been obliged to get up repeatedly and go out and throw rocks at them in order to get my normal amount of slumber. The eggs are often placed in an old nest of the Red-tailed Hawk, in a cotton- wood tree or a giant cactus ( Cereus gz?anleus). The photo, taken by S.C. Mason of the Department of Agriculture and used by his courtesy, shows a nest in a big
