614 SYSTEMATIC SYNOPSIS. — RAPTORES — STRIGES. 



not very well known, as it is shy and retiring, and quite nocturnal in habits. It is chiefly 

 noted fur its shrill harsh notes, which, being likened to filing a saw, have occasioned its name. 

 The nest is usually made in the hollow of a tree or stump, in AprU; the eggs arc 3-6 in number, 

 white, nearly globular, about 1.00 X 0.87. 

 L68. GLAUCl'DIUM. ({j,r. dhn'm. oi yXav^, glaux, im owl.) Gnome Owls. Sparrow Owls. 

 Pygmy Owls. Size very small. Head perfectly smooth; no plumicorns; ear-parts small, 

 non-operculate ; facial disc very incomplete, the eye not centric. Nostril circular, opening in 

 the tumid cere ; bill robust. Tarsus fully and closely feathered, but toes only bristly for the 

 most part. Wings short and much rounded, the 4th primary longest, the 1st quite short, the 

 3 outer ones emarginate, and next one or two sinuate. Tail long, about | as long as the wing, 

 even or nearly so. Claws strong, much curved. A large genus of very small owls, mostly of 

 tropical countries. The numerous species, chiefly of warm parts of America, are in dire con- 

 fusion, but the only two known to inhabit N. Am. are well determined. The plumage of 

 many or most species is dichromatic, as in Scops, there being a red and a gray phase indepen- 

 dently of age, season, or sex ; but the red is not known to occur in our G. gnoma. The upper 

 parts are marked with spots or lines ; bars, or rows of spots, cross the wiugs and tail ; the 

 under parts are streaked ; there is a cervical collar. Notwithstanding their slight stature, the 

 gnome owls are bold and predaceous, sometimes attacking birds quite as large as themselves. 

 They are not specially nocturnal. The eggs are laid in holes in trees, and are not peculiar in 



character. 



Analysis of Species. 

 Marltlngs of upper parts in dots and round spots. Tall dark brown, with rows of white spots . . gnoma 484 

 Markings ofupper parts in sharp lines. Tail reddish, with dark brown bars ..... ferrugineum 485 



484. G. gno'ma. (Lat. gnoma, a spirit of the mines.) Californian Gnome Owl. ^ 9 , adult : 

 Tail concolor with the back, and markings of the upper parts, as well as those crossing the 

 wings and tail, in the form of dots or round spots, not lines or bars. Upper parts one shade of 

 dark brown, everywhere dotted with small circular spots of white ; a collar of mixed blackish- 

 brown and white around the back of the neck ; breast with a band of mottled brown, separating 

 the white throat from the white of the rest of the under parts, which have irregular lengthwise 

 streaks of reddish-brown. Wiugs and tail dusky-brown, the feathers marked on both webs with 

 rows of round white spots, largest on the inner ; under wing-coverts white, crossed obliquely 

 by a blackish bar. Bill, cere, and feet dull greenish-yellow; soles chrome yellow; claws 

 black ; iris bright yellow ; mouth livid flesh-color. Length of ^ 7.00 or a little less ; extent 

 14.50; wing 3.75 ; tail 3.00. Length of 9 7.50; extent 15.50, etc. Li the 9 the upper parts 

 are rather lighter, with fewer larger spots, and a nearly obsolete nuchal collar ; but both sexes 

 vary in the tint of the upper parts, which ranges from pure deep brown to pale grayish, almost 

 olivaceous, brown, probably according to age and season, the newer feathers being darker than 

 they are when old and worn. The condition of erythrism, so well known in the next species, 

 has not been observed in the present one, which is closely related to the sparrow owl of Europe 

 (G. passerinum, fig. 359). Rocky Mts. to the Pacific, U. S. and southward, common in wooded 

 regions ; an interesting little owl, crepuscular and rather diurnal than strictly nocturnal, preying 

 chiefly upon insects, but also upon birds and quadrupeds sometimes about as large as itself. 



48& G. ferrugi'neum. (Lat. ferrugineum, rusty-red.) Ferrugineous Gnome Owl. <J 9 , 

 adult, normal plumage: Tail entirely ferrugineous, or light chestnut-red, crossed with 7 to 9 

 bars of blackish-brown, — of the same width as the rufi>us interspaces, and both sets of mark- 

 ings quite regular. (These tail -marks distinguish the species la any plumage from G. gnoma.) 

 Entire top of the head, above the superciliary ridges, and sides of the head behind the auriculars, 

 oUvaceous-brown, streaked with small, distinct lines of white or fulvous- whitish ; these mark- 

 ings being on the forehead and most of the crown like pin-scratches in their sharpness, and 

 though a little less so behind the ears, everywhere retaining their narrow linear character. (In 



