350 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



120. Nyctala acadica (Gmelin). 



SAW-WHET OWL. 



Strix acadica Gmelin, Systema Naturae, i, 1788, 296. 



Nyctale acadica Bonaparte, Geographical and Comparative List, 1838, 7. 



(B 56, 57, C 328, R 401, C 483, U 372.) 



Geographical range: Northern United States and British provinces, rarely- 

 south of 40° in eastern portions, but in mountainous western districts south to south- 

 ern Mexico. 



The breeding range of the Saw-whet or Acadian Owl, so far as known, 

 extends east of the Mississippi Valley through the northern portions of the 

 United States from about latitude 40° (Carroll County, Indiana), through the 

 southern parts of the Dominion of Canada to latitude 51° 30' (Moose Fac- 

 tory), near the southern shores of James Bay. In the central Rocky 

 Mountain region it ranges south to at least latitude 35° in northern New 

 Mexico and Arizona, and on the Pacific coast north through the mountains 

 of California, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington into British Columbia; 

 it probably breeds throughout all the higher mountain ranges of western 

 North America. 



It is more than probable that it will yet be found breeding throughout 

 the more mountainous regions of eastern North America south of latitude 

 40°, but on account of its small size as well as its nocturnal habits it is 

 seldom noticed, and while it may be rather irregularly distributed and even 

 entirely absent in certain localities, it is nevertheless a far more common 

 species than is generally supposed. It is a constant resident throughout 

 the greater portion of its range within the United States, only migrating from 

 its more northern breeding grounds, and passing the winter season mainly in 

 the Middle States, where it is met with at times in considerable numbers. 

 Mr. "W. E. D. Scott took not less than twenty-one specimens during December, 

 1878, in a cedar grove on a side hill with a southerly exposure, near 

 Princeton, New Jersey. He found some of them very tame and unsuspicious, 

 allowing themselves to be taken by hand; I have also found them equally 

 stupid in the vicinity of Camp Harney, Oregon. Each winter one or more 

 specimens were brought to me alive by some of my men, who found them 

 sitting in the shrubbery bordering a little creek directly in rear of their 

 quarters, where they usually allowed themselves to be taken without making 

 any effort to escape. I thought at first that they were possibly starved, and 

 on that account too weak to fly, but on examination found them mostly in 

 good condition and fairly fat. They seem to be especially fond of dense 

 evergreen thickets in swampy places or near water courses. 



