34 



ORNITHOLOGIST 



[Vol. G-No. 5. 



Vancouver, on the Colnmbia Eiver, and 

 subsequently Dr. Merideth Gairdner pro- 

 cured several specimens from the same 

 locality. Mr. John K. Lord met with a 

 pair on Vancouver's Island that made the 

 hollow of an oak tree their rendezvous. 

 Concealing himself in a deserted Indian 

 lodge, their habits were closely watched 

 by him. "In the first morning twilight 

 the owls were up and in motion, hungry 

 after a whole night's fasting. Their flight 

 was short, quick and jerking, similar to 

 that of the sparrow hawk, but wholly un 

 like the muffled, noiseless flap of the night 

 owls. Their food was found to be entire- 

 ly insectivorous. When in pursuit of food 

 they perch on a small branch near the 

 ground and sit upright in an indolent, 

 drowsy manner until their quick eye de- 

 tects an insect when they suddenly pounce 

 upon it, hold it down with their small but 

 powerful claws, and with their sharp beak 

 tear it in pieces, eating only the soft ab- 

 dominal parts. As soon as their lumger 

 is appeased they return to the tree, ciid 

 diiug close together, and doze away the 

 greater part of the day. In the evening 

 twilight they again come cut of their holes 

 and take erratic flights around their abode, 

 chasing each other up and down the plain 

 and performing all kinds of inexplicable 

 manoeiivres. Occasionally they settle on 

 the ground, but never long at a time. As 

 soon as it became dark they retired to 

 their nests and there apparently passed the 

 night. Early in May they selected a large 

 knot-hole in a branch of the tree and laid 

 two small eggs, white in color, round and 

 very rough on their surface. Nothing of 

 any kind was used as a lining, the eggs be- 

 ing deposited on the bare wood." 



Dr. Cooper saw a specimen in Washing- 

 ton Territory, November 1, 1854, among 

 a flocli of sparrows that did not seem at 

 all disturbed by his presence. Dr. Suck- 

 ley obtained two specimens at Puget 

 Sound — tolerably abundant there, diurnal 

 in their habits, gliding about in shady 

 situations in pursuit of prey. Dr. New- 



berry procured specimens on the Cascade 

 Mountains of Oregon, and says, "It flies 

 about with great freedom and activity by 

 day, pursuing small birds upon which it 

 subsists, apparently as little incommoded 

 by the light as they are." 



Captain Bendire reports it as found in 

 the neighborhood of Camp Harney, Ore- 

 gon. "December 14, 1874. This is the 

 first of this species that I have ever seen. 

 It is a female. On examination of the 

 ovaries with a lens magnifying about six. 

 times, I counted two hundred and thirty 

 undeveloped eggn, which would justify the 

 conclusion that these birds live to a good 

 old age. Sergt. Smith shot it to-day, while 

 he was out hvmting on the mountains north 

 of the camp. He caught it in the act of 

 trying to get away with a large sized wood- 

 mouse or gopher. The mouse was on the 

 end of a pine log, when the little owl sud- 

 denly dropped down on it, out of a pine 

 tree standing close to the log, in which it 

 had been sitting, about twenty leet from 

 the ground, and fastened its claws in its 

 back. The mouse ran nearly the length 

 of the log, about twenty-five feet, carrying 

 the owl on its back, the latter appearing 

 perfectly unconscious about where the 

 mouse was going with her, keeping her 

 head tiarned in the opposite dii-ection. The 

 time occupied in getting to the other end 

 of the log was nearly two minutes, when 

 he shot them both. That it is not strictly 

 noctimial is shown by the fact that it was 

 shot about noon." 



Dr. Coues in his "Birds of the North- 

 west," says, "I saw the Pigmy Owl several 

 times at Fort Whipple, and secured two 

 specimens, which were fortunately male 

 and female. I take it that this bird is 

 common in the wooded regions and moun- 

 tainous portions of Arizona. One of my 

 specimens was moulting ; the other, taken 

 in winter, was in perfect plumage. This 

 warrants the belief that the species is resi- 

 dent about Fort Whipple, and that it 

 breeds there.'' 



H. W. Henshaw, in his "Report upon 



