CALIFORNIA PYGMY OWL 411 



embrace. The perched bird received the caress without protest. 

 The mating act completed, the male bird snuggled close to his mate in 

 a most affectionate manner." All during this love scene nearby j uncos 

 and other small birds kept up a constant chatter of protest; a protest 

 that was ignored by the courting pygmies. 



Nesting. — In California this subspecies is found in the forests all 

 along the Sierra Nevada. South of Santa Cruz it is also found in the 

 coast ranges. It is not a resident of the great central valleys, nor of 

 the desert ranges, although it is possible that it might occur on the 

 highest desert mountains, if wooded. It nests almost exclusively in 

 woodpecker holes if available, especially the old nesting sites of the 

 California woodpecker. Mr. Michael tells me that all the nests he 

 has found, except one, were in such holes. Under such conditions 

 it might seem as if there would be more or less conflict between the 

 two. On the contrary, they seem to get along well together, although 

 other species of woodpeckers fight these owls. And the owls retaliate 

 by eating both adult and nestlings of sapsuckers and woodpeckers, 

 other than the California. As a rule this owl selects a site for a nest 

 near a meadow, or opening. It is easy to account for this marked 

 preference, because of the pygmies' preferred foods, mice and grass- 

 hoppers, that live in the open. Again, I have often been impressed 

 with the scarcity of small bird life away from these openings, espe- 

 cially in the Sierra Nevadas. So even the small birds that are preyed 

 upon during nesting time are then more numerous in the open mead- 

 ows and in the thickets along their edges. Furthermore, the first 

 food that will be hunted by the young is apt to be grasshoppers found 

 only in the open. 



Mr. Michael says: "The female does the incubating; the male does 

 the hunting and brings in the food. When the male arrives with 

 food he perches near the nest hole and calls to his mate in a soft 

 wavering trill. The female comes forth, joins her mate, accepts 

 his offering and retires to the nest hole to dine at leisure. Owing 

 to the predacious habits of the pygmy owl, and to his success as a 

 hunter, the immediate neighborhood of his nest always becomes 

 destitute of small bird life. The bird student knowing his district 

 well could almost sense the presence of the pygmy owl by the scarcity 

 of small bird life. In justice to the pygmy, however, it must be ad- 

 mitted that he shows a strong preference for mice, except during his 

 nesting season." Some of these Yosemite pygmies, at least, will 

 nest in the immediate vicinity of houses. Mr. Michael writes me 

 that of three nests found during the spring of 1927, one was directly 

 across the road from his bedroom window. Although the majority 

 of egg settings are complete before June first, only one brood is 

 raised each year, so far as I know. 



