312 ANIMAL LIFE IN THE YOSEMITE 



notes were heard, not preceded by any trill. The following syllables, if 

 uttered Mdiile one whistles, seem to represent the pigmy owls' usual song: 

 too-too-too-too-too-foo-too-too; toot; toot; toot. 



On October 12 similar notes were heard at 6 :30 a.m. in the same 

 vicinity; and on October 14, at 9 :30 a.m., others were heard from the dark 

 shaded valley wall near Bridal Veil Falls. 



During the summer and fall of 1915 the voice of the pigmy owl was 

 heard practically every evening that observations were made, in the 

 vicinity of Yosemite Falls Camp, and from there down to Rocky Point 

 and across the Ahwahnee footbridge. On August 18 and 19 the notes were 

 heard at daybreak; on September 2 at 5:30 a.m., in broad daylight, and 

 again at 6 :50 p.m. ; on September 4 at daybreak ; and on October 23 at 

 5 :22 P.M. On October 24, near Camp Ahwahnee, three owls were heard, the 

 earliest at 5 :22 p.m. On the evening of October 25 the first note was heard 

 at 5 :21 p.m. On October 27 three owls were heard near Camp Yosemite 

 from as many different directions, beginning at 5 :30 ; they called per- 

 sistently for about fifteen minutes, after which perfect quiet reigned. On 

 November 1, a clear sunny day, the regular full series of notes was twice 

 heard at 11 a.m. ; and on November 3, a day partly overcast, the notes 

 Avere heard at 12 :20 p.m. 



Near El Portal, on December 6, 1914, a pigmy owl was obtained through 

 the assistance of solicitous song birds. A bevy of fully fifteen ruby- 

 crowned kinglets was buzzing like bees about the foliage of a tree, each 

 uttering its ratchet-like call, and flitting hither and thither in the most 

 perturbed manner. While the observer was watching, a pair of plain 

 titmouses joined the group, and soon there flew out a pigmy owl, quickly 

 followed by a good part of the excited congregation. 



On December 10, 1914, about 11 a.m., near LeConte Lodge, a creeper 

 was heard squeaking emphatically, with its attention fixed on the lower 

 branches of a yellow pine. Presently a pigmy owl disclosed its presence 

 by taking flight. It alighted near by on a pine twig thirty feet above the 

 ground, and there it was shot. 



Subsequent dissection of this owl showed its stomach to contain one 

 forefoot, some bones, and much hair of a Yosemite Pocket Gopher. The 

 stomach of a California Pigmy Owl obtained at El Portal, December 26, 

 1914, contained fragments of a small snake and of several grasshoppers. 

 This further betokens daytime foraging on the part of this, our smallest 

 species of owl. 



