OF THE UNITED STATES 249 



from my shot, lie, as noiselessly as a puff of smoke, sailed thrice 

 about the room, to alight upon an unlit burner of the gas-chan- 

 delier overhead. Not satisfied with this performance however, 

 nor the misery myself and brothers were in to keep silent, he 

 quickly essayed another aerial survey, and that not a lofty one, 

 but, to my horror, low down and close to the kneelers. Having 

 taken in the situation to his satisfaction, he was evidently" rolling 

 round in his mind where he would alight a second time. This to 

 my infinite concern, and much distorted feelings, he soon settled, 

 for with a lightness that none but an owl can equal, he gracefully 

 lit upon the thin white cambric cap that ornamented my grand- 

 mother's head. Instantly her hand was carried there to discover 

 the cause of the unusual interruption, and this movement, so un- 

 expected, nearly frightened the owl into fits. AYhat followed all 

 happened within a second or two. The owl could not clear his 

 sharp little talons from the head-dress, so he, with all his might, 

 drove their eight needle-like points firmly into grandma's scalp. 

 Tncle was in one of his long, most devout pauses, when the un- 

 earthly shriek burst upon the silence of the room, mingled as it 

 was with the brutal outburst of long suppressed merriment of 

 my brothers and, the funniest of all, the peculiar Indian-like 

 yell that my uncle let loose, which of itself was sufficient to break 

 up the entire meeting. 



In the west and southwest we meet with the most engaging 

 members of the whole family StriflidiBj I refer to the little Pygmy 

 and Elf owls. They belong to the genera Glaucidiuin and Micro- 

 l><fUd$< three species and a subspecies in the first, and a single 

 species in the second. Some of these are no bigger than spar- 

 rows, and have wonderfully interesting habits and history, but 

 accounts of these would far exceed the limitations of the present 

 chapter. 



