56 BUBOISIM;. 



291. GLAUCIDIUM NANUM (King). 

 (PYGMY OWL.) 



Glaucidium nanum, Scl. et Salv. Nomencl p. 117 ; Jlurm. La-Plata Reise, ii. 

 p. 441 ; Scl P. Z. S. 1872, p. 549 (Rio Negro) ; White, P. Z. S. 1883, 

 p. 41 (Cordova) ; Doring, Exp. al Rio Negro, p. 49 (Rio Negro) ; Sharpe, 

 Cat. B. ii. p. 190. 



Description. Above dull reddish brown, mottled with concealed spots and 

 bars of ochraceous buff ; scapulars with an ashy tinge ; head more rufous and 

 longitudinally streaked ; whitish collar on the hind neck ; wings dark brown, 

 banded with rufous ; tail dark brown, with about ten rufous bars, and tipped 

 with whitish ; cheeks and chin pure white, the latter divided by a dark brown 

 throat-band from the white fore neck ; abdomen white, streaked with dark 

 brown : whole length 8'0 inches, wing 3-8, tail 2*9. Female similar, but rather 

 larger. 



Hab. La Plata, Patagonia, and Chili. 



This diminutive Owl, which barely reaches eight inches in length, 

 and is light brown and grey in colour, was discovered by Captain King 

 in 1827 in the neighbourhood of the Straits of Magellan. I met with 

 it on the Rio Negro in Patagonia, but saw very little of it. It struck 

 me that, like the Burrowing-Owl, it is not very strictly nocturnal, for I 

 observed it in the daytime perched in exposed situations. 



In 1882 White met with it in Cosquin, in Cordova, and made the 

 following important note on its habits : " It causes the naturalist 

 much amusement to watch the habits of this pretty little Owl, that, 

 perched perfectly motionless on a branch, utters such a sirenic cry as to 

 attract little birds in great numbers. They are observed to cluster 

 round it, all the while fluttering and in great excitement, charmed by 

 some fascination. After waiting a while the Owl suddenly pounces upon 

 the nearest for its victim/' 



I also observed little birds mobbing it, when it perched in a conspi- 

 cuous place in the daytime, as they always mob small birds of prey, 

 but was not so fortunate as to hear the " sirenic cry " with which the 

 Cordova bird fascinates its victims. One has heard this yarn of a 

 " sirenic cry " before, of other species, for it is a very common myth. 

 That an Owl should now be fitted with the old melodious cap seems 

 strange ; and Mr. W r hite is in error when he says that this habit in our 

 bird "causes the naturalist much amusement." 



