418 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



he managed to cling to the rim of the hole, and going head first he 

 did contrive to drag the dead woodpecker after him. Having had a 

 good look at the victim we were inclined to believe that it was a 

 young male willow woodpecker, full-feathered and about ready to 

 leave the nest. So far as we could tell the parent woodpecker on 

 returning did not discover his loss, at least he made no outcry." 



Another time a pygmy was found surrounded by Sierra juncos. 

 Apparently he had just caught a mouse on the ground and killed it. 

 When the owl flew up to a blackberry branch, "the juncos followed 

 and, ringing him as before, pelted the owl with emphatic words. When 

 the owl remained motionless for two minutes the abusive chorus sub- 

 sided to a few clicks. Heartened by the near silence the owl plunged 

 his face into the skull of his victim to gnaw at the brains. At his 

 movement the junco chorus became as loud as ever, and the owl paused 

 and looked sharply about. After 15 minutes of this play the juncos 

 seemed to have enough and the greater part of the flock took flight, 

 only a handful remaining to hector the owl, and these soon followed 

 their mates. Left in peace the little owl pulled the mouse from a 

 blackberry thorn upon which it was impaled and, flying to the ground, 

 resumed his epicurean feast. That it is the custom for many creatures 

 who prey upon field mice to eat only the head, we know, as we often 

 come upon the headless torso of a mouse during our rambles about 

 the valley." 



On June 2, 1927, the Michaels found another pygmy: "That blood- 

 thirsty little owl that hunts his prey in the broad light of day. In his 

 talons he held the prostrate body of a vireo. Carrying his victim, in a 

 series of short flights, with pauses to rest between, he worked his way 

 upward into the topmost branches of a tall Kellogg oak. When he 

 reached the summit branches he paused again, and then we heard a 

 series of high-pitched whinnying notes carried along on an even tone 

 and so rapid that they seemed to vibrate. This trill was much like the 

 trill call of the Sierra chickaree, only softer and lighter." This was 

 evidently a call, for the female owl soon appeared. 



Still another pygmy, seen one cold gray morning in April, had a 

 mouse clutched close to the perching limb: "The tail and lower limbs 

 of the mouse hung down and the owl was leisurely tearing the skin 

 from its head and shoulders. Soon the pygmy was ripping into the 

 flesh and from time to time he raised his head and appeared to smack 

 his lips over a bloody morsel. The little owl controlled his appetite; 

 he did not appear ravenous but ate slowly in the manner of a gentleman, 

 with many a pause between bites. Twice during his meal he uttered 

 softly a single hollow note, and we wondered if his mate might not be 

 within hearing, possibly tucked away in her chosen nest hole. Noth- 

 ing, however, was seen of the mate, and when we finally left the 

 neighborhood the little killer dozed, with the remains of his victim still 



