422 BULLETIN 170, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



indicate that the pygmy owl is a bird of strictly diurnal feeding habits." 

 F. C. Holman (1926) says: "There was nothing to indicate any noc- 

 turnal activity of the owls ; in fact during the three months from May 

 1 to August 1 not a single call at night was heard. An early call 

 soon after daybreak was not uncommon, and the last was never later 

 than at dusk. During the latter half of June, the female spent much 

 of her time in the trees near the nest, often roosting on a certain high 

 dead branch." On the other hand, there are several reputable ob- 

 servers who state they have heard pygmies as late as 10 o'clock, at 

 least. 



After eating its food, the pygmy often selects a prominent perch 

 in the sun and grooms itself as carefully as any other small bird would. 

 It may even doze while taking its beloved sunbath. I have heard 

 some arguments that, if this owl be diurnal, it would not sleep in 

 daytime. But I think that this is going too far, and that this owl 

 does nap at times during daylight. This may occur at any time of 

 the year. The sunning perch may be at the top of living, or dead, 

 trees or bushes, at heights varying from 6 to 30 feet. In winter, 

 when such trees and bushes are free from leaves, the pygmy may 

 select a sunning perch within the branches of willows, sycamores, or 

 other deciduous trees. While I am not positive about the matter, I 

 believe that these pygmies roost at night in otherwise unused wood- 

 pecker holes, even during summer. 



Mr. Dawson (1923) gives some interesting data on these owls: 



Save to the few initiates, a meeting with this fascinating little fiend must come 

 as a happy accident. Fiend he is from the top of his gory beak to the tips of his 

 needle-like claws; but chances are you will forget his gory character at sight and 

 call him "perfectly cunning", just because he is tiny and saucy and digagL Look 

 your fill when fate brings him your way, for like the wind, his royal owlets fiitteth 

 where he listeth, and you cannot tell whence he comes nor whether he will come 

 again this twelvemonth. When my moment of privilege came, this pocket edition 

 of the powers that prey stood out boldly and unequivocally upon the topmost 

 splinter of a wayside stub in a northern forest, and challenged attention. The 

 gnome gave his back to the road, and now and then teetered his tail, which was 

 otherwise set at a jaunty angle, nervously, as though there was something on his 

 mind. But this preoccupation did not deter the Owl from bending an occasional 

 sharp glance of scrutiny upon the birdman. 



* * * We never should have noticed him if we had not been looking up- 

 ward, intent on early pussy willows, amongst which he sat, calmly, at the height 

 of a dozen feet. There is always a curious impersonality about the gaze of this 

 little owl. Even when he does look in your direction (and he does not flatter you 

 by constant attention by any means), he does not appear to focus on you at all. 

 Perhaps this is a trick of the eye, or else arises from its unlikeness to that of otber 

 owls. For although the atmosphere on this occasion was full of light, the bird's 

 pupils were dilated to the utmost, and the irides were mere yellow rims. 



In spite of its usual boldness and fearlessness, this pygmy owl is 

 cautious at times. H. C. Bryant says that a parent with a fence 

 lizard paused at the nesting tree and looked around carefully. It did 



