330 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



The members of this group resemble, in their small size, imperfect facial disk, and 

 lack of i)!uinicorns, the sjiecies just described, but are readily distinguishable bj- their 

 very strong beak and strong, much curved claws, together with j>roportionally longer 

 tail, much shorter wings, and densely feathered tarsus. Their whole structure is ex- 

 tremely compact and strong, indicating their ability to cope successfully with animals 

 of their own size or larger ; hence the statements that they feed mainly on insects, and 

 are satisfied with a very few of these, need strong confirmation in order to aj)pear even 

 plausible, while the undeniable fact tliat they habitually hunt more or less during the 

 day gives little ground for the surmise tlial tiiey are inactive at night ; much less, as 

 some writers assert, that they go to roost at nightfall like the majority of birds. We 

 sus])ect the truth to bo that most of their serious hunting is done under cover of dark- 

 ness, and that the observed insect-catching is only an amusement indulged in to while 

 away the tedious houi"s of daylight. 



The ])igmy, or gnome-owls, as they are frequently called, commonly inhabit the 

 deep woods, and their manner of life is very slightly known, notwithstanding their 

 com]iarative abundance in many places. Twenty-five or thirty 8i)eeies have been 

 described, and only ten years ago Mr. R. B. Sharpe admitted twenty-three or twcnty- 

 fom- s])ecies, twelve of which were American. There is now, however, little question 

 that we have in America not more than live or si.x distinct species, one of which (pax- 

 seriinmi), is the same as the Euroitean, while it is ])robable that the Old World species 

 must suffer a like reduction. Thus each of the islands, Formosa, Java, Sumatra, and 

 Ceylon, has i)een credited with its single peculiar s]H'cies, while China and Japan have 

 another, and India and Africa each two or three more. Just how many of these are 

 local, climatic, or geographical races of the others, we are not prepared to say, but it 

 is our conviction that there are certainly not more than a dozen valid species of Glaii- 

 culiiiiii known to science at the present time, and even that number may have to be 

 considerably lessened as our knowledge of the group increases. They ai-e mainly 

 dwellers in the trojiics, where tliey are found all round the world, but they appear to 

 be entirely absent from Australia. 



One species, the sparrow-owl, G. passerinicm, is pretty generally distributed 

 through Europe, and is represented in the western United States by a rather darker 

 race formerly s(']>araled as a species, G. cdlij'onii'cin/i, but not really distinct from the 

 European bird. It ranges from Vancouver's Island southward to Mexico and Gua- 

 temala, where, however, it seems to be ])artially replaced by another species, G. 

 J'erriif/ineiim. This latter, like several others among the pigmy-owls, shows the 

 dichromatism already alluded to, some specimens being in gray plumage and others in 

 red, inde])eiideiitly of age, sex, or season. The European bird, however, and its 

 American representative rarely show this red phase well, it being much more charac- 

 teristic of the tropical niembers of the genus. Even among these it is not known to 

 occur in every species, and often where a sjtecies shows red and gray forms of the 

 most pronounced type, individuals are also found representing every conceivable in- 

 termediate stage, some examjiles combining the red and gray in such equal jiroportion 

 that it is impossible to say which tliey most resemble. Independently of these j)hases 

 there is considerable variation of color and markinijs among individuals of the same 

 species, so that on the whole the ]ugmy-owls form a very per])lexing group. 



Most of the species, when young, have the u))per surface of tlie head of uniform 

 color, unmarked with either s]iots or streaks. Few adult birds ])reserve this character, 

 and frequently the whole u]q)er surface is 8j)otted, streaked, or barred. The wings 



