OWLS 307 



of the body, including the belly and insides of the thighs, from which the 

 larger feathers had all been removed. Associated with this condition, 

 directly beneath the bare skin, were layers of fat, though the bird was 

 otherwise lean. As is well known, many birds show, during the nesting 

 season, the same or similar adaptations for the better performance of the 

 functions of incubation. The male Great Gray Owl lacked any such 

 modifications, and we may infer that in this species the female alone 

 performs the duty of incubation. The reproductive organs of both the 

 birds indicated that the time of actual egg laying was long past. It seems 

 more than likely that a brood of young had been reared in the vicinity 

 and, approaching maturity, had scattered out through the adjacent woods. 



On July 1, 1915, a Great Gray Owl was met with on the old Snow Flat 

 trail, a mile or so north of Indian Rock, When first seen it was perched on 

 a low limb of a lodgepole pine not over 10 feet above the ground. Two 

 juncos in the vicinity were in spasms of excitement. The owl, taking 

 alarm, flew to a higher branch of a neighboring tree, and thence made 

 off into a dense stand of red firs. Its species was easily recognized by its 

 great size, dark gray plumage, big round head without ears, and by the 

 slow flapping of its broad rounded wings. No note was given by this bird. 

 This was at 1 :30 p.m. As far as our observations went, this species would 

 seem to be more active by daylight than other owls such as the Pacific 

 Horned Owl. 



In Aspen Valley, on October 13, 1915, at 7 :30 p.m., an owl note, sup- 

 posedly of the Great Gray, was heard; but it proved impossible to verify 

 the identity. Near Tamarack Flat, on May 24, 1919, similar notes were 

 heard but the birds were not seen. Notes of certain individual Band-tailed 

 Pigeons proved enough like those of this owl to cause confusion until the 

 authors of the notes were actually seen to be pigeons. 



Saw^-vp^het Owl. Cryptoglaux acadica (Gmelin) 



Field characters (inferred from specimens). — Size small (between that of Pigmy 

 Owl and Screech Owl); head round (no ear tufts) (fig. 39c) ; eyes straw yellow; color 

 above cinnamon brown, below white, with broad streakings of warm rusty brown (not 

 blackish). [Living birds not seen by us.] 



Occurrence. — Sparse resident on floor of Yosemite Valley and probably also in 

 vicinity of Dudley, 6 miles east of Coulterville. 



On July 24, 1915, a Golden-crowned Kinglet's nest, in use earlier the 

 same season, was taken from its site 30 feet above the ground, in a smallish 

 yellow pine standing near Yosemite Falls Camp. This nest, now preserved 

 in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, had as part of its constituent 

 material a considerable number of the feathers of a Saw-whet Owl. There 



