THE CALIFORNIA PYGMY OWL. 



491 



DISCOVERY of an owl west of the Cascade ^louiitains comes in 

 the nature of a revelation. Sa\e in the matter of a thoro inspection of 

 the "holey oaks" of Pierce County, no ornithologist need claim the slightest 

 credit for what he knows of the owls of Puget vSound ; all that he has was 

 given to him. 



Xow it has been given to some to see Pygmv Owls, but what \aunting 

 creature would undertake to bring one in "dead or alive" on a Inmdred 

 dollar wager ? 

 Like the wind, his 

 royal owlets flit- 

 teth where he 

 listeth, and you 

 cannot tell whence 

 he comes nor 

 whether he will 

 come again this 

 t w e 1 \" e m o n t h . 

 When my moment 

 of prixilege came, 

 this pocket edition 

 of the powers that 

 prey stood out 

 boldly and un- 

 equivocally upon 

 the top m o s t 

 splinter of a way- 

 side stub in What- 

 com County, and 

 challenged atten- 

 tion. The gnome 

 gave his back to 

 the road, and now 

 and then teetered 

 his tail, wbicli was 



otherwise set at a jaunty angle, ner\-(iusly, as tho there were something 

 on his mind. But this preoccuijation did not deter the Owl from bending 

 an occasional sharp glance of scrutin\- ui)on the birrl-man. Then all at 

 once the bird whirled backward and launched himself, like a bolt from 

 a crossbo^v, at a mouse some sixty feet away across the road. Seizing 

 the "wee, timorous, cowerin' beastie" at the ver}- entrance of his hole, the 

 bird maintained its grasp upon it with both feet, and supported itself against 

 the rodent's struggles by wings outstretched upon the ground. Not until 



^Tool\s 



C.\LIFORNI.\ PYCllY OWL. 



