Nov., 1916 RESULTS O1? Pt WINTER'S OBSERVATIONS IN ARIZONA 211 the mountains. L. S. Wylie, on the boundary of whose chicken ranch we camped, and to whom I am greatly indebted for innumerable kindnesses, is much bothered by these owls. He states that one will alight on a branch where a chick- en is roosting. The latter will awaken and shriek, but is too scared to move. The owl then sidles along and grab.s the fowl by the neck. Bubo begins to pair here in January, or possibly earlier, and eggs may be expected during the latter part of February. I shot a male bird from a palo verde on March 10, and then dis- covered the female on a nest nearby. I returned on the 19th and took the female as she left the nest, but was much surprised when a small male flushed not twenty feet away. She evidently did not mourn her first venture very long. I had always understood that an owl is in the habit of killing its prey by a single bite through the head or neck, and, indeed, I have had indubitable evidence that such is often the case. However, on the first of the year, I flushed an owl from the ground, and discovered that it had abandoned a freshly-killed cotton- tail. I skinned the latter and found no marks on it except a few claw punctures, which, however, did not seem to penetrate deeply, and which were confined to the trunk of the animal. I took seven specimens of screech owls from the sahuaro holes. Three of these H. S. Swarth pronounces cineraceus, and four gilmani, so it is apparent that the former sometimes descends from the mountains during the cold weather and invades the haunts of the latter. During storms those holes in the sahuaros which face towards the wind are half filled with water. This remains for a con- siderable time, a state of affairs that aids one in the search for screech owls, for, instead of seeking a dry shelter, the birds prefer to stick to the old home, even though such action necessitates their spending the day in the opening of the hole, in full view of passersby. One Pygmy Owl (Glaucidium g. ridgwayi) was taken near a spring in the foothills. My eye was first caught by an Audubon Warbler which was fussing around a larger bird, the owl, as if the latter was one of its own immature offspring. As I approached the Pygmy, it flew to a neighboring cottonwood, still followed by the warbler. Due to one of those blunders which occasionally happens, I snapped my auxiliary at it at forty yards. In its more protracted flight this time, its satellite still held place, only desisting from its .solicitous attention when I approached to retrieve the owl. This locality is a favorite one for collecting eggs of the Elf Owl (Micropallas whitney?), and I learn from those with experience that two or even three sets may be expected from a morning's hard work during the proper time of year. It has been supposed that some individuals, at least, of this species pass the win- ter in their summer home, but I had already suspected, from work done at Pot Holes, California, during the winter of 1913, that such might not l?e the case. L. M. Huey was with me during a part of my stay at Tucson, and together we spent many hours in examining the sahuaros with the aid of a light ladder. If the Elf Owl had been present, we would hardly have failed to encounter it, but not one was seen or heard. I had always supposed that the Road-runner (Geococcyx californianus) was a harmless bird, with a strong leaning towards the beneficial, but now I am not so sure of this fact. While I was out collecting, these abundant birds would often be seen skulk'ing about with eyes open for any opportunity, and it was always necessary, in such case, to make a dash for a specimen after it was shot. On two occasions a Road-runner darted in and grabbed a bird when I had almost reached it, once hopping two feet in the air to nip a sparrow that had lodged in
