ELEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 191 
FERRUGINOUS PIGMY OWL. 
GROUP XI.—PYGMY OWLS, Glaucidium, 
This group of tiny owls is unknown to us in the east, although, 
as a genus, it is wide-spread, being represented in Europe and by 
a number of species in Asia, Africa, and South America. The 
Pygmy Owl, Glaucidium gnoma Wagl., inhabits the mountain 
regions of the Rockies, from British Columbia south into Mexico, 
while a darker sub-species lives in the humid coast region. 
Besides a form inhabiting Lower California, there is a southern 
species, the Ferruginous Pygmy Owl, G. phalaenoides (Daud.), 
which reaches the southern border of the United States. This 
is a most beautiful little owl, clothed in a varied pattern of white 
and brilliant rufous. 
Although not strictly diurnal, yet these owls have so far deserted 
the habits of their Order, that they fly about in the morning and 
late afternoon, pursuing the grasshoppers and small mice upon 
which they prey. 
The call-notes are said to be soft and musical and four eggs 
are deposited in the deserted hole of a woodpecker. 
