330 NATURAL HISTORY OF BIRDS. 



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

 lack of plumicorns, the species just described, but are readily distinguishable by their 

 very strong beak and strong, much curved claws, together with proportionally 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 appear even 

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

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

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

 suspect the truth to be 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 hours of daylight. 



The pigmy, or gnome-owls, as they are frequently called, commonly inhabit the 

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

 comparative abundance in many places. Twenty-five or thirty species have been 

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

 four species, twelve of which were American. There is now, however, little question 

 that we have in America not more than five or six distinct species, one of which (pas- 

 sermum), is the same as the European, while it is probable that the Old World species 

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

 Ceylon, has been credited with its single peculiar species, 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 cei'tainly not more than a dozen valid species of Glaic- 

 cidium 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 are mainly 

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

 be entirely absent from Australia. 



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

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

 race formerly separated as a species, Gf. californicum, 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 partially replaced by another species, (?. 

 ferrugineum. 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, independently 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 members of the genus. Even among these it is not known to 

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

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

 termediate stage, some examples combining the red and gray in such equal proportion 

 that it is impossible to say which they most resemble. Independently of these phases 

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

 species, so that on the whole the pigmy-owls form a very perplexing group. 



Most of the species, when young, have the upper surface of the head of uniform 

 color, unmarked with either spots or streaks. Few adult birds preserve this character, 

 and frequently the whole upper surface is spotted, streaked, or barred. The wings 



