538 The Roller-like Birds 



turn in one direction or another, the nesting chamber being at the highest point. 

 This chamber is ordinarily twelve to eighteen inches wide and is usually lined 

 with dry horse or cow dung to a depth of one or two inches, though occasionally 

 with grass, feathers, or hair. Both burrow and chamber are often in a very 

 filthy condition. The eggs number from six to twelve, the usual complement 

 being from seven to nine; they are pure white and glossy when clean, but are 

 frequently much soiled by the unsanitary contents of the nest. 



The Florida Burrowing Owl (S. c floridana), which is found in Florida and in 

 a very slight color-form in the adjacent Bahama Islands, differs from the western 

 form in being smaller, though with larger bill and feet, and the spots above are 

 white with little, if any, buff tinge, and the brown areas darker. Another form 

 (S. c. dominicensis) is found on the island of Haiti or Santo Domingo, while 

 what are regarded as distinct species are found on Antigua, Guadaloupe, Clarion 

 Island off the coast of Lower California, and Margarita Island, Venezuela. That 

 from the latter island, known as the Short- winged Burrowing Owl (S. brachyp- 

 tera), is a small, very pale form, the color of which harmonizes perfectly with 

 the faded yellowish grass surrounding their burrows; they feed on grasshoppers 

 and beetles. 



Pygmy Owls. Also of small size, as may be inferred from the name, are the 

 so-called Pygmy Owls (Glaucidium) of which some thirty species are known, 

 ranging over much of the tropical and temperate portions of the Old World 

 excepting Australia, and in the New World over the southern portions of North 

 America and practically the whole of South America. These little Owls have 

 a small, rounded head without ear-tufts, tubular nostrils which open in the some- 

 what swollen cere, quite short and rounded wings with the fourth quill usually 

 longest, and 'a densely feathered tarsus. 



To that section of the genus which is characterized by having the upper parts 

 more or less spotted with white, belongs the American Pygmy wl (G. gnoma), 

 a bird from six and a half to seven and a half inches in length, which inhabits 

 the western United States east to Colorado and New Mexico, and south to the 

 highlands of Mexico. The back is slaty grayish or brownish in color, the top of 

 head spotted or dotted with white or buffy, the sides of the breast brownish 

 spotted with paler, and the lower parts whitish striped with blackish; the tail 

 is crossed with white bands. It mostly frequents wooded districts, although it is 

 occasionally found at some distance from timber, and is diurnal in its habits, 

 feeding and flying about during the daytime, although it is perhaps more com- 

 monly abroad in the early dusk and morning. It is a tame and unsuspicious 

 bird, and is apparently at times more or less sociable, as Mr. Henshaw speaks of 

 finding them in small companies in New Mexico. It feeds on insects, small 

 mammals, and birds, as well as reptiles and batrachians. Major Bendire relates 

 an amusing incident of one attacking a large gopher which carried it along for 

 some distance on its back. Its presence is usually little noticed by other birds, 

 though occasionally it is mobbed like its larger relatives. But few of its nests 

 have ever been discovered, and such as have fallen under scientific observation 

 were usually placed in deserted Woodpeckers' holes. The California Pygmy 



