434 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Their former range is now occupied in part by a pair of northern 

 spotted owls (Strix occidentalis caurina). It may be that the larger 

 birds drove the pygmy owls to new haunts." But I am a little 

 doubtful of this last observation when I recall the finding of remains 

 of pygmy owls in the stomachs of southern Californian spotted owls 

 as already recorded under the California pygmy owl. And the quota- 

 tion below, from H. W. Carriger, leads me to wonder if the screech 

 owl, also, preys on the pygmy. I recall that Dr. T. S. Roberts (1932) 

 gives the screech owl an unsavory reputation in this respect. Mr. 

 Carriger (1895) says of one of his nests, known to have been used by 

 pygmy owls that when opened: "a California Screech Owl was found 

 within. It was presumably a male which had selected the Pygmy 

 Owl's nest as a hiding place during the daytime. It had apparently 

 occupied the cavity for some time." 



Winter. — Dr. Cooper, as quoted by Dr. Elliott Coues (1874) writes: 

 "On the 1st of November, 1854, I observed it among a flock of Spar- 

 rows, which did not seem at all frightened by its presence. For 

 some time I thought it was one of them, though its large head and 

 owl-like flight seemed to me strange. It was plainly diurnal in 

 habits, not seeming to seek any shelter from the sunshine. Its 

 stomach contained only insects, and it is probable that it does not 

 often attack birds." Probably the latter observation is true of the 

 winter season. Because these birds seem to be less often seen in 

 winter than individuals of at least the Rocky Mountain and Cali- 

 fornia subspecies, there is a lack of winter observations, but H. W. 

 Carriger (1895) says: "One rainy day in October two were met sitting 

 side by side in the low limbs of a laurel tree, and they retained their 

 position until the limb was forcibly shaken, and then flew to another 

 portion of the tree." Mr. Carriger's observations were made in 

 Sonoma County, and probably not in a redwood belt as Mr. Moffitt's 

 were. 



GLAUCIDIUM GNOMA HOSKINSI Brewster 



HOSKINS'S PYGMY OWL 



HABITS 



This little pygmy owl is found only in the Cape region of Lower 

 California, Mexico, from latitude 27° N. southward. The type was 

 taken by M. Abbott Frazar in the Sierra de la Laguna, on May 10, 

 1887. 



William Brewster (1888) named it, and described it as "similar 

 to G. gnoma californica but smaller and grayer, the forehead and 

 facial disc with more white, the upper parts less distinctly spotted." 

 Robert Ridgway (1914) describes it as "very similar in general colora- 

 tion to G. g. gnoma, but streaks on under parts browner (less blackish) 



