436 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



M. French Gilman (1909) found a nest of the ferruginous pygmy 

 owl near the Gila River, Arizona, of which he writes: 



The only complete set found contained four eggs, and was discovered by seeing 

 the bird leave the nest while I was a short distance from the tree and before any 

 alarming demonstration had been made. She was very shy about returning to the 

 nest. After returning, she hesitated some time before venturing into the hole, 

 and when she did enter, she came out at once for a look around. At my first 

 movement she hastily left the nest again, and when she came back her mate 

 accompanied her. This nest was a deserted Gila Woodpecker's hole 20 feet from 

 the ground in a cottonwood tree. While they are sitting on a tree in plain sight 

 they are not shy, but when in a hole they are very timid, afraid of being captured 

 I suppose. A few times I have seen a head stick from a hole but every time the 

 bird got out before I could approach very near. 



George F. Breninger (1898) says: "Among the growth of cotton- 

 wood that fringes the Gila and Salt rivers of Arizona this Owl is of 

 common occurrence. * * * its nest is usually an abandoned 

 woodpecker's hole, which is used from year to year. No lining is used, 

 and the three or four white spherical eggs are laid upon the bottom of 

 the cavity, without any material being added either for the comfort of 

 the setting bird or for the fledglings. Nidification in this valley usually 

 takes place about the 20th of April." 



Eggs. — The ferruginous pygmy owl lays ordinarily three or four eggs 

 and occasionally five. Bendire (1892) writes: "Compared with eggs of 

 Glaucidium gnoma calif or nicum, the shells are apparently much thicker, 

 and are rather coarsely granulated, considering their small size, con- 

 siderably more so than the egg of Micropallas whitneyi, and they are 

 not as glossy as the latter. The texture of the shells is decidedly 

 different from that of the eggs said to be those of the California Pigmy 

 Owl. In none of the specimens before me are the peculiar punctures 

 or pittings noticeable and purporting to be characteristic of the eggs 

 of the preceding species. In fact, the reverse is rather the case, most 

 of the specimens showing a few slight protuberances on their surface." 



The eggs are pure white and shaped like the eggs of the other small 

 owls. The measurements of 50 eggs average 28.5 by 23.2 millimeters; 

 the eggs showing the four extremes measure 30.5 by 23.3, 29 by 24.5, 

 26.5 by 23, and 29.4 by 21.6 millimeters. 



Plumages. — I have been unable to learn anything about the downy 

 young, or the sequence of plumages and molts of this little owl. Ridg- 

 way (1914) says that the young are "similar to adults, but pileum 

 without distinct (if any) streaks." 



Food. — On the authority of Carl Euler, Major Bendire (1892) says: 



According to this authority, small as the Ferruginous Pigmy Owl is, it has been 

 known to carry off young chickens, and he was informed by the natives that it 

 even attacked Jacii hens {Penelope), a bird of greater size than domestic fowls. 

 It was stated to him that the little Owl fastened itself under the wings of the latter, 

 gradually tearing it to pieces, and wearing it out and eventually killing it. I am 

 aware, from personal observations, that some of our small Owls are the peer, as 

 far as courage is concerned, of the noblest Falcon ever hatched, but I should not 



