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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



of a saw, so that the traveler hearing it in the woods thinks he hears 

 the man at the saw-mill sharpening the saw. It is also said that its 

 notes resemble those of the little screech-owl of Europe, which would 

 seem to be indicated in the paronomasia., or alliteration of tlie an- 

 cient poet : 



" Est illis strigihus nonien ; sed nominis hujus 

 Causa quod horrenda stridere nocte solent." 



(" The screahers they are called ; the reason's found 

 They make night hideous with their screaTcing sound.") 



Nor is it all screaking with the saw-whet, for Audubon tells of an- 

 other note, which is musical, and like the tinkling of a bell. Weight 

 for weight, the robin would probably outdo our little Acadian owl. 

 Kor is it only wee and winsome, it seems to be gentle also. Coues 



Fig. 7. The Tawny Owl op Europe (Syrnium aluco). 



records the interesting fact of one being found occupying peaceably, 

 with a chickaree-squirrel, the same hole in an oak. 



Approaching the Western seaboard, we find, under the genus 

 Glaucidium, two diminutive owls, the sparrow-pygmy and the rusty 

 pygmy-owl. These birds are not so large as the thrush. 



4. The Athenince, or bird-owls. Here is found that oddly-bird- 

 like owl, standing so un-owlishly high on its naked legs, the burrow- 

 ing owl [Athene cwiicularia, Bonap,), or Speotyto cunicularia, var. 

 Hypogma of Coues (Fig. 8). Very much nonsense has been written 

 of this bird. It is said to dwell in amity with the rattlesnake and 



