led hawk once was observed to swoop down, seize a
prairie dog and fly down the canyon. The four colonies found in the Park
were in Prater Canyon, in Morfield Canyon, in the east fork of School
Section Canyon, and in Whites Canyon. The last two were smaller colonies
than the first two.

Prairie dogs were observed away from these colonies. On June 20 a young
prairie dog ran into a culvert on the Knife Edge Section of the road.
Others were observed on the north side of the road, at the head of the
east prong of School Section Canyon, on the road west of Park Point, and
on the road at the head of Long Canyon five miles from the nearest known
colony in the Park. Possibly this last individual came from the
Montezuma Valley north of the Park. Mr. Prater, after whom Prater Canyon
is named, homesteaded on the Mesa Verde in 1899. He informed Quaintance
that prairie dogs were present in Morfield Canyon prior to 1900 but were
not in Prater Canyon in 1899. Prater said he drowned out a few that came
into Prater Canyon before 1914. In 1942, Chief Ranger Faha wrote in his
Annual Animal Census Report that he had interviewed an old time resident
(name not noted) who stated that prairie dogs were not present on the
Mesa Verde until about 1905 or 1906 and that Helen Morfield, the
daughter of Judge Morfield who homesteaded in Morfield Canyon, brought
the first prairie dogs on the Mesa Verde. Estimates of the prairie-dog
population in the Annual Animal Census Reports for 1935 through 1941
were: 1935--800, 1936--650, 1937--650, 1938--650, 1939--no report,
1940--1500 and increasing, 1941--slight decrease. After 1942 more
adequate records were kept by Chief Ranger Wade and other Park Service
personnel.

On August 9, 1943, occupied burrows of prairie dogs were found to be
thinly scattered down Prater Canyon from the head of the canyon at the
Maintenance Camp to a point about one hundred feet below the lower well.
The largest concentration was in the vicinity of the upper well near
Prater's Cabin. Little new digging that would indicate a spreading
population was noticed. Seemingly desirable, but unoccupied, habitat
extended at least two miles south of the inhabited area. In Morfield
Canyon, burrows were found from a point one hundred yards north of the
fence at the south boundary of Section 17, south for a mile and one-half
to a point one-third of a mile into Section 29. The greatest
concentration was in the vicinity of Morfield Well. South of t