STRIGID^E.-NYCTEA N1VEA. 71) 



GLAUCIDIUM INFUSCATUM. 



Strix infuscata, TEMM. Manual d'Orn. I, 1820, 97. 



Glaucidium gnoma, WAGLER, Isis, XXV, 1832, 275. 



Strix passcrinoides, AUD. Orn. Biog. V, 1835, 271, pi. ccccxxxii, figs. 4, 5. 



" " " Syn. 1839, p. 23. 



" " " Birds of Am. I, 1840, 117, pi. xxx. 



Glaucidium infuscatum, CASSIN, Syn. N. A. Birds (Illust. Birds of Cul.), 1854, p. 189. 



VULG. Little Columbian Owl. The Pigmy Owl. Cheveche Chevechoidc (Temm). 



LITTLE is known in regard to the habits of this, the smallest of American Owls. 

 It was first obtained by Dr. Townsend on the Columbia River, near Fort Vancouver, 

 and subsequently by Dr. Gairdner near the same locality. Drs. Cooper and Suckley 

 also found it in various portions of Washington Territory. Mr. Bell and Dr. Heer- 

 mann have since observed it in California, where the latter met with four birds, 

 three of which he obtained in the daytime on trees bordering the Calaveras Eiver. 

 They were gentle, unsuspicious, and easily approached, and their stomachs were 

 filled with crickets. I have a drawing of an egg of this bird, taken by Dr. James 

 Trudeau, but where the egg was obtained from which it was drawn, or how or 

 where it nests, I am unable to state. The egg is of a clear crystal white. Its shape 

 is nearly exactly spherical. Its measurements are 1 Jg- inches in length by one inch 

 in breadth. I am as yet unable to illustrate its egg. 



IV I C TT E I N I IV JE , 



NYCTEA NIVEA. 



Strix nyclea, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 132. 



" Was. Am. Orn. IV, 1812, 53, pi. xxxii, fig. 1. 

 " " BONAP. Syn. 1828, p. 34. 



" RICH. & SWAINS. F. B. A. II, 1831, 88. 



" LATHAM, Index Orn. I, 1790, 57. 



" ADD. Orn. Biog. II, 1835, 135 ; V, 382 ; pi. cxxi. 

 Strix Candida, LATHAM, Ind. Orn. Supp. 1801, p. 14. 

 Strix erminea, SHAW, Gen. Zool. VII, 1809, 251. 

 Strix arctica, BARTEAM, Trav. 1791, p. 289. 

 Strix nivea, DAUDIN, Traite d'Orn. II, 1800, 190. 

 Nyctea Candida, BONAP. Geog. and Comp. List, 1838, p. 6. 

 Surnia nyctea, AUD. Syn. 1839, p. 21. 



" " Birds of Am. I, 1840, 113, pi. xxviii. 



Nyctea nivea, CASSIN, Syn. N. A. Birds (Illust. Birds of Cal.), 1854, p. 190. 

 VULG. The Snowy Owl. The White Owl. Great White Owl. Snow Owl. 



THIS is an exclusively Northern species, and is probably chiefly confined to the 

 Arctic Circle and the adjacent portions of the temperate zone, in both the Eastern 



