I20 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



A physical peculiarity wherein the bird is 

 strangely un-Owl-like is that when it is in flight 

 its wings make a distinct whistling sound, 

 whereas the flight of the remainder of its tribe 

 in this country is as silent as the passing of a 

 shadow. Moreover, like a few other members 

 of its family, it is quite able to do, and does, much 

 of its hunting in broad daylight, even in the 

 bright sunshine, though probably it is most active 

 in the dim light of the evening and early morn- 

 ing. Dr. Fisher corroborates Dr. Coues' state- 

 ment about the unsuspicious nature of the bird 

 by noting that it responds promptly to an imita- 

 tion of its call (which resembles the syllables 

 klook, klook), and in this way may be decoyed 

 from a considerable distance ; and he adds that 

 " it hides in the pines or other thick foliage, 

 where it sits upright near the trunk and is prac- 

 tically invisible to the observer." 



Besides not being noiseless this Owl's flight is 

 rather jerky and uneven, suggesting that of the 

 Sparrow Hawk, this being true especially when 



the bird is hunting insects, which it often catches 

 by pouncing upon them on the ground from low- 

 branches or stumps. These dives are executed 

 after the manner of the Shrike, that is, with 

 closed wings, followed by a fluttering upward 

 flight. It is a very courageous bird, and kills 

 and eats other birds as large as the Robin and 

 squirrels or other rodents twice its own size. 

 The Indians are very superstitious about this 

 bird, and believe that killing one will bring ter- 

 rible misfortunes upon the slayer. 



The California Pygmy Owl {Glaucidiuni 

 glioma californicum) is a browner variety of the 

 Pygmy and is limited to the Pacific coast region 

 from southwestern British Columbia south to 

 Monterey, California. Speaking of this subspe- 

 cies, Mr.' \V. L. Finley says (MS.) : " We have 

 had one or two cases in which the California 

 Pygmy Owl has killed canaries in cages. One of 

 our wardens killed one of these birds as it was 

 eating a Meadowlark which it had caught ; it 

 had evidently caught the bird in broad daylight." 



ELF OWL 



Micropallas virhitneyi (/. G. Cooper) 



A. O. U. Number 381 



Other Name. — Whitney's Owl. 



General Description. — Length, 6 inches. Dichro- 

 matic ; in gray phase, upper parts brownish-gray 

 spotted with yellowish and under parts a mixture of 

 white, gray, and light brown ; in brown phase, upper 

 parts nearly snufT-brown. No ear-tufts; tail, square 

 or slightly rounded, less than half as long as wing; 

 tarsus, scantily haired or bristled, not feathered ; 

 4 outer primaries notched on inner webs. 



Color. — Gray Phase — Adults: Above, brownish- 

 gray to grayish-brown, the crown, hindneck, back, 

 shoulders, rump, upper tail-coverts, and lesser wing- 

 coverts with small irregular spots of buff or pale tawny, 

 these larger and deeper pale tawny or cinnamon-bufT 

 on forehead; an interrupted narrow collar of white 

 across lower hindneck; outer webs of feathers on 

 shoulders, mostly white, margined terminally with black- 

 ish ; middle and greater wing-coverts with a large, semi- 

 ovoid spot of white on terminal or subterminal portion 

 of outer web ; secondaries crossed by about five series of 

 semi-circular spots of pale cinnamon-buff, these pass- 

 ing into white on outer edge ; primary coverts with 

 three series of dull cinnamon-bufF spots; outer webs 

 of primaries with about 6 conspicuous spots of cinna- 

 mon-buff, these not touching shafts; tail crossed by 

 about 4 or 5 narrow, interrupted bands of pale brownish 

 buffy or bufFy and white, these not reaching shaft on 

 either web ; " eyebrows," white, the feathers narrowly 

 tipped with black; "face," cinnamon to cinnamon-bufF, 

 the last sometimes partly dull rusty whitish; a white 



cheek spot, margined behind by a blackish bar; throat 

 cinnamon to cinnamon-buff, this extended laterally to 

 behind the black cheek bar, where sometimes barred 

 with blackish; rest of under parts, a confused mixture 

 of white, grayish, and dull light cinnamon or light 

 buffy brown, the white predominating behind, the 

 grayish and cinnamon prevailing forward, the colored 

 areas narrowly and irregularly barred with dusky; 

 under tail-coverts, white, with subterminal irregular 

 spots of pale buffy brown or narrow center streaks 

 of dusky; under wing-coverts, white, suffused with pale 

 buffy brown and irregularly spotted with deep grayish 

 brown, the edge of wing, however, immaculate white; 

 bill, pale horn color witli yellowish edges ; iris, lemon 

 yellow. Young: Similar to adults but crown nearly 

 immaculate deep brownish-gray, and without any 

 cinnamon-bufF on face or throat, or bufFy brown on 

 under parts, the latter irregularly marbled or clouded 

 with white and light brownish-gray narrowly barred 

 with darker. Brown Phase: Much browner than the 

 grayish (usual) phase, the general color of the upper 

 parts nearly snufF-brown ; otherwise not different, the 

 pattern of the coloration being identical. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: In the giant cactus, an 

 abandoned Woodpecker's hole being almost always 

 utilized, but sometimes in a hollow tree. Eggs : 2 to 

 5, pure white. 



Distribution. — Southern and Lower California, east 

 to southern Te.xas, south over the tableland of Mexico 

 to Puebla. 



