178 NEW “YORK «ZOOLOGICAE®Y SOCIEPY- 
spruce tree, and two to four eggs are laid. We know but little of 
its habits and its food, but it seems to sustain the reputation of 
the Barred Owl, of a fondness for rodents. Of nine stomachs 
examined, all contained mice, while in one was the remains of a 
snow bunting. 
The Lapp owl of the Old World has been noted as accidentally 
occurring in Alaska. 
GROUP V.—SAW-WHET OWLS, Cryptoglaur. 
Three forms belonging to this genus occur in the Nearctic 
Region. The handsome little Richardson Owl, Cryptoglaux 
tengmalmi richardsoni (Bonap.), has much the same distribution 
as the Great Gray Owl, breeding in northern Canada and coming 
south in winter as far as the northern United States. It is a 
sub-species of the Tengmalm Owl of northern Europe and Asia, 
and differs from that bird chiefly in the predominance of the 
darker tints of the plumage. A hint of the dangers to which this 
little owl is exposed is shown in the fate of a parent owl which 
had a nest with four eggs in a hollow spruce stub; the unfortu- 
nate bird being killed and eaten by a pair of ravens whose nest 
was in a neighboring tree. 
Quite similar in general tone of plumage, but lighter in color 
and smaller in size, is the familiar Saw-Whet Owl, Cryptoglaux 
acadica (Gmel.). Its rasping, but not unpleasant notes have given 
to it its common name. During March and early April, when 
the thoughts of these little owls are turning to nesting, the notes 
are most often heard—calls of defiance or invitation—we know 
not which. A woodpecker or a squirrel hole is finally chosen, 
and three or four small white eggs laid therein. 
It is nocturnal and sits so still in the daytime, huddled up close 
to the trunk of some dense spruce or cedar, that it is seldom ob- 
served. If carefully looked for in winter, however, it can usually 
be found, and is so sleepy or dazzled by the light, that one can 
pick the bird from its perch without difficulty. Four-fifths of its 
food consists of small field mice. 
Along the humid coast of British Columbia, the Saw-Whets are 
much darker, and have been accounted worthy of sub-specific dis- 
tinction. Otherwise, the Saw-Whet Owls from Newfoundland 
and British Columbia, south to Pennsylvania and New Mexico are 
all alike. 
