28 Brewster on a Collection of Arizona Birds. [January 



ber of the coveted birds. Those taken from holes were all 

 females, but some males were afterwards shot in elder and willow 

 thickets. The notes accompanying two specimens obtained June 

 3 at Camp Lowell are so interesting that I transcribe them in full. 

 'T was walking past an elder bush in a thicket when a small 

 bird started out. Thinking it had flown from its nest I stopped 

 and began examining the bush, when I discovered a Whitney's 

 Owl sitting on a branch with its side towards me and one wing- 

 held up, shield-fashion, before its fiice. I could just see its eyes 

 over the wing, and had it kept them shut I might have overlooked 

 it, as they first attracted my attention. It had drawn itself into 

 the smallest possible compass so that its head formed the widest 

 part of its outline. I moved around a little to get a better chance ♦ 

 to shoot, as the brush was very thick, but whichever way I went 

 the wing was alwa^'s interposed, and when I retreated far enough 

 for a fair shot I could not tell the bird from the surrounding 

 bunches of leaves. At length, losing patience, I fired at random 

 and it fell. Upon going to pick it up I was surprised to find 

 another, which 1 had not seen before, but which must have 

 been struck by a stray shot." Rather curiously both of these 

 specimens proved to be adult males. It is by no means certain, 

 however, that the males are not to a certain extent gregarious 

 during the breeding season, for on another occasion two more 

 were killed from a flock of five which were sitting together in 

 a thick bush. 



Judging from the notes at hand these little Owls are strictly 

 nocturnal in their habits. With the evening twilight they came 

 forth from their retreats and were sometimes dimly seen, but 

 oftener heard calling to one another. They had several differ- 

 ent notes, one of which sounded like the syllable ^'chiirp" \ 

 while another was a low ^'•tiv-jur rrr." These cries were heard 

 at all times of the night, but oftenest in the early evening and 

 again at daybreak. 



During Mr. Stephens's raid on the cactuses several nests 

 were discovered. These were invariably in deserted Wood- 

 peckers' holes and usually at such a height that the trunk had 

 to be felled. In every case this resulted in the breaking of the 

 eggs, but one of the accessible nests fortunately contained a sound 

 specimen. This egg is broadly ovate in shape, and measures 

 1. 07 X ■91- The shell, which is clear white, is slightly rough- 



