SAW-WHET OWL 239 



much weakened, and may succumb to the cold. Forbush (1927) 

 writes: 



In winter in the great coniferous forests of Canada much of the snow is upheld 

 on the branches of the trees in such a way that there are spaces here and there 

 close to the trunks where there is little snow. There the wood mice come out at 

 night from their hiding-places under the snow, and there the little owl perched 

 in the branches above them awaits their coming; but if for any reason owl-food 

 is scarce or hard to obtain, as sometimes happens in severe winters with deep snow, 

 the little owls must move south or perish. At such times, as in the winter of 1922- 

 23, when Acadian Owls were abundant in New England, there was a great influx 

 of these birds from the north. By the time they reach a milder clime, many of 

 them are too emaciated and exhausted to hunt or even to eat. They seem to lose 

 all interest in life, and seek only a quiet retreat in which to die. Others more 

 hardy or less exhausted survive to return, with the advent of spring, to the land 

 of their nativity. 



Bendire (1892) says: 



Mr. W. E. D. Scott took not less than twenty-one specimens during December 

 1878, in a cedar grove on a side hill with a southerly exposure, near Princeton, 

 New Jersey. He found some of them very tame and unsuspicious, allowing 

 themselves to be taken by hand; I have also found them equally stupid in the 

 vicinity of Camp Harney, Oregon. Each winter one or more specimens were 

 brought to me alive by some of my men, who found them sitting in the shrubbery 

 bordering a little creek directly in the rear of their quarters, where they usually 

 allowed themselves to be taken without making any effort to escape. I thought 

 at first that they were possibly starved, and on that account too weak to fly, but 

 on examination found them mostly in good condition and fairly fat. They seem 

 to be especially fond of dense evergreen thickets in swampy places or near water 

 courses. 



It is hard to account for the large number of saw-whet owls that 

 have been picked up dead in all sorts of places, unless this species is 

 endowed with an especially delicate constitution, which requires an 

 unusual amount of food. Even so, it seems hardly likely that they 

 could have starved to death in the vicinity of Washington, D. C, 

 where many have been picked up, or in the desert regions of California 

 and Oklahoma, where their remains have been found, as the climate 

 is mild and food available in all of these places. It may be, as Mr. 

 Forbush has suggested above, that they were too far gone when they 

 reached these places. 



Mr. Terrill writes to me, from the Montreal region: "I have records 

 for every month, but it is notable that I have recorded twice as many 

 in December as in any other month. One must, of course, discount 

 the suggested increase in December owing to the fact that some of 

 them were seen in bare deciduous thickets. Nevertheless, there is 

 undoubtedly a decided migratory movement of this owl in early winter, 

 at least periodically, as they are frequently observed in places where I 

 am satisfied they do not breed." 



