The Pigmy Owl. 409 



prevent the entrance of water, like the softer plumage of 

 the duck. 



As in all diving birds, the internal veins (vence cavce) of the 

 penguin are immense in size, and serve as reservoirs for the 

 impure venous blood, until the return of the animal to the sur- 

 face enables it to be purified by breathing. 



One more point respecting the structure of these singular 

 animals, and I have done. 



In almost every other bird that exists, the pupil of the eye 

 is circular ; in the penguin it is an elongated slit, a variation 

 to which their singular mode of looking at an object, noticed 

 by Mr. C. Darwin, is most likely due, and which has probably 

 some direct reference to their subaqueous mode of life. 



THE PIGMY OWL. 



GLATJCIDIUM GNOMA, WAGLER. 



Strix passerinoides, Tem. ; Strix infuscata, Tem. ; Glaucidium Californicum,. 

 Sclater. — The Medicine or Death Owl of the North- West American Indians. 



BY J. K. LORD, F.Z.S., 

 Late Naturalist to the British North American Boundary Commission. 



This rare and beautiful little owl, the smallest of all the North 

 American species, I shot for the first time on Yancouver 

 Island. It has also been obtained, though rarely, in Oregon, 

 Washington territory, and California. 



The habits of this tiny bird appear little known; its 

 diminutive size, shy, solitary habits, always hiding amongst 

 the thick foliage of the oak or the pine, except when feeding, 

 renders the task of observing it, or obtaining a specimen, at 

 all times difiicult; hence a few dried skins, from which its 

 generic and specific characters have been determined, are the 

 only records we possess. How the recluse lives, where he 

 lives, or what he does, are secrets only revealed to the 

 wanderer or naturalist, who, on the sunlit prairies, and in th,e 

 gloomy forest, sees for himself how its denizens conduct them- 

 selves — in this manner the following notes were gleaned : 

 missing pages in the history of the Pigmy Owl, which I here 

 venture to supply. 



Early in the spring, whilst collecting the migrants, which 

 arrive at Vancouver Island in great numbers and variety of 

 species — some to remain the summer through, and others only 



