About 9 inches in height and usually perch on the ground. Eats insects, scorpions, crayfish, mice, ground squirrels, young prairie dogs, rabbits, amphibians, snakes and on a rare occasion birds. Nests in small colonies in the deserted burrow of a prairie dog, tortoise, armadillo, woodchuck, skunk or other mammal. May dig own burrow or enlarge another's; lines nest with horse or cow dung, grasses or weeds. Often seen standing on the raised mound at the entrance to their burrow in habitats such as airport fields, highway shoulders, golf courses and vacant lots as well as their more traditional location within prairie dog towns where they are preyed upon by rattlesnakes. Have the ability to imitate the rattling sound of a rattlesnake as a defence against would-be predators.