io8 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



brown (lighter than upper parts) ; rest of under parts, 

 plain tawny-buff or cinnamon-buff. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In a hollow tree or stump, 

 or in deserted Woodpecker and squirrel holes. Eccs : 

 3 to 6, white. 



Distribution. — Northern North America ; breeding 

 from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick westward 

 through Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and Alberta to 

 British Columbia, and extreme southern Alaska, south- 



ward to Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, mountains of 

 Maryland, northern Indiana, northern Illinois, southern 

 Nebraska, Colorado, New Mexico, central Arizona, 

 higher Sierra Nevada of California, and Oregon ; in 

 winter migrating irregularly (according to severity of 

 the season) southward to Virginia, southern Ohio, 

 southern California, etc., casually to North Carolina, 

 South Carolina, Georgia and Louisiana ; casual or 

 accidental in Mexico and Guatemala. 



If sound sleeping be a sign of a clear con- 

 science, the Saw-whet Owl must have very few 

 sins on its mind, for so deep is its slumber, 

 huddled up in a spruce thicket or some other 

 dense foliage, that frequently even clumsy man 

 captures it alive. A more tragic result is the 

 capture of the sleeper by its arch-enemy, the 

 Barred Owl, or by some other carnivorous 

 prowler on noiseless wing or padded foot. Doubt- 

 less the number of these captures would become 

 large enou.gh in time to make the bird rare in- 

 deed, but for the fact that it often selects as a bed- 



SAW-WHET OWL 



Photographed in a wood-house on the Orange Mountains, 

 New Jersey 



I i'i;ius\ Ml .^. .\. Lottridge 

 EGGS OF THE SAW-WHET OWL 



chamber an old Woodpecker's nest, or a hollow 

 tree, where it is comparatively safe from most 

 of its enemies during the daylight hours ; at 

 night its senses are so alert that it can generally 

 elude them. 



The Saw-whet is a non-migratory species, but 

 is a good deal of a wanderer nevertheless, with 

 the result that a locality Vvfhich has known it well 

 one year may see nothing whatever of it for 

 several years thereafter. These wanderings are 

 chiefly in search of food and occur especially 

 during the fall and winter months. The bird's 

 flight is singularly like that of the \\'oodcock ; 

 so mtich like it, in fact, that Dr. Fisher, who 

 made a special and very careful study of Ameri- 

 can Owls, once shot a flying Saw-whet suppos- 

 ing it to be a Woodcock, and did not discover his 

 mistake until his dog pointed the dead bird. 



This Owl's cry, tnost frequently heard during 

 March and April, has a peculiar scraping or 

 rasping quality which suggests the sound made 

 by filing a large-toothed saw ; and hence its 

 popular name. 



A grayer variety of this owl, found on 

 Queen Charlotte Island and in British Columbia 

 south to the Puget Sound region, has been 

 named the Northwestern Saw-whet Owl 

 (Cryptoglaux acadica scotcca). 



