CALIFORNIA PYGMY OWL 419 



clutched tightly in his talons." In these accounts it will be noted 

 that the pygmy does not swallow hair, feathers, and bones; and there 

 is therefore no indigestible material to be expelled as pellets so charac- 

 teristic of larger owls. 



No doubt many of us have, like the Michaels, been introduced to 

 pygmies by their mouse-catching. Mr. Dawson (1923) gives a par- 

 ticularly interesting account: "All at once the bird whirled backward 

 and launched himself, like a bolt from a crossbow, at a mouse some 

 sixty feet away across the road. Seizing the 'wee, timorous, cowerin' 

 beastie' at the very entrance of his hole, the bird maintained its grasp 

 upon it with both feet, and supported itself against the rodent's strug- 

 gles by wings outstretched upon the ground. Not until the squeakings 

 of the victim had quite ceased did the captor rise and disappear b} r 

 rapid flight into the wood." Similar to the Rocky Mountain pygmy, 

 this California pygmy often pounces on rather large mammal prey 

 that drags its captor along with it before succumbing to the onslaught. 

 This interesting habit is hinted at in the last quotation, but it is even 

 better brought out by Major Bendire (1875): 



Sergeant Smith shot it today [December 14, 1874], while he was out hunting on 

 the mountains north of the camp. He caught it in the act of trying to get away 

 with a large sized wood-mouse, or gopher. The mouse was on the end of a pine 

 log, when the little owl suddenly dropped down on it, out of a pine tree standing 

 close to the log, in which it had been sitting, about twenty feet from the ground, 

 and fastened its claws in its back. The mouse ran nearly the length of the log, 

 about twenty-five feet, carrying the owl on its back, the latter appearing perfectly 

 unconscious about where the mouse was going with her, keeping her head turned 

 in the opposite direction. The time occupied in getting to the other end of the log 

 took nearly two minutes. * * * The unconcerned, business-like manner in 

 which the owl allowed itself to be carried by the mouse till the latter should be 

 pretty well exhausted, before killing it outright, shows that this was by no means 

 the first it had caught [in this way]. 



One interesting fact, already given in the Michael quotations, is 

 that the pygmy does not always consume all its larger prey. Mr. 

 Wilson (1925) writes of this with reference to a snake. He says: 

 "The tit-bit, which in this case was a small snake about a foot in 

 length, was carried in the bird's talons to the new position [in a pine 

 30 feet from its nest] * * * The owl began to tear the snake to 

 bits, holding it in the meantime with its talons while it tore the flesh 

 with its beak. Without finishing the animal, it suddenly flew off 

 towards the rim of the valley, leaving the half-devoured body of the 

 snake hanging on the limb of the pine." David D. Keck (1925) 

 tells of a chipmunk that was partly eaten: "This owl was varying 

 the customary fare of mice and reptiles with a full-grown Tahoe 

 Chipmunk. The victim was half eaten when we approached, but the 

 diner dropped the remainder and, giving us a resentful survey, flew 

 away to a more secluded place." Ernest D. Clabaugh (1933) gives 



