THE PYGMY OWL, 403 



142. Glaucidium gnoma Wagleb. 



PYGMY OWL. 



Glaucidium gnoma Wagler, Isis, 1832, 275. 



(B 60, C 329, R 409, C 484, U 379.) 



Geographical, range: The interior and monntaiuous parts of western North 

 America, from Britisli Columbia; south through the United States to the table-lands of 

 Mexico, excepting the Pacific coast region; east to the eastern slopes of the Rocky 

 Mountains. 



Tlie breeding range of the Pygmy Owl, as far as known, extends tlirough 

 the timbered regions of western North America, from the southern Rocky 

 Mountains in Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona, westward to eastern Califor- 

 nia, eastern Oregon, and eastern Washington, north into eastern British Colum- 

 bia, and south into Mexico. 



The following is quoted from an article written by me and published in 

 The Auk, October, 1888 (Vol. v, pp. 366-372), with a few verbal changes : 



"The general habits of the Pygmy Owl are by this time pretty well 

 known, and there remains little for me to add to its life history that is really 

 new. It is a well established fact that it is quite diurnal and hunts its prey, to 

 a great extent at least, during the daytime ; its food consists not alone of grass- 

 hoppers and other insects, as some of the earlier naturalists surmised, but also 

 of birds and the smaller rodents, some of the latter considerably heavier than 

 itself. 



"I presume that it is not at all uncommon throughout the entire moixntain- 

 ous and timbered portions of the West; but from its small size and retiring 

 habits, generally being hidden in dense evergreen trees, it is not often noticed 

 by the naturalist, and usually only by accident. I have taken it personally in 

 the Blue Mountains in Washington and in several places in Oregon, but have 

 never met with more than one at a tune. My specimens were, with but a single 

 exception, found in or near pine timber. While hunting Sage Fowl on the 

 morning of February 5, 1875, in the vicinity of Camp Harney, Oregon, I shot 

 a female Pygmy Owl at least 5 miles from the nearest timber. It was perched 

 on a large bowlder lying at the foot of a basaltic cliff, and allowed me to ap- 

 proach quite closely. It had just about finished breakfasting upon a Western 

 Tree Sparrow, as indicated by the feathers scattered about and on the rocks; 

 it was in prime condition and exceechngly fat. 



"The first of these little Owls coming under my observation was shot 

 by Sergeant Smith, who used frequently to hunt with me. On the morning 

 of December 14, 1874, we were out hiuiting Sooty Grouse along the southern 

 slopes and among the foothills of the Blue Mountains, a few miles north of 

 Camp Harney, and had been quite successful. The sergeant was walking along 

 the edge of a mesa, while I was about 100 yards below him hunting among 

 some service beiTy bushes growing about half ^\ny uj) the slope of the hill, and 



