The Saw-whet Owl 



General Range. — Temperate North America. Breeds from the southern tier 

 of British Provinces south to the southwestern states, and east of the Rocky Mountains 

 to Nebraska, Ohio, and Maryland; winters irregularly southward; accidental (?) in 

 Mexico and Guatemala. 



Occurrence in California. — A rare breeder at least in the Transition and 

 Canadian zones of the central Sierras, and probably south to the San Jacinto Mountains 

 (Round Valley, Aug. II, 1898, Stephens). More widely and more frequently in evi- 

 dence in winter, at which season its numbers are probably augmented from the North. 



Authorities. — Gambel ( Nyctale acadica), Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Phila., vol. iii., 

 1846, p. 47 (Monterey); Ray, Condor, vol. xvi., 1914, p. 65, figs. (Sierra Nevada, 

 breeding); Pierce, Condor, vol. xxii., 1920, p. 40 (San Bernardino Mts., breeding). 



WE ARE NOT unlike song birds ourselves, in that the advent of an 

 Owl, of whatever species, will make a ripple of excitement in our day. 

 The nether world has erupted. We have caught a glimpse of tasseled ear 

 or cloven hoof and we are strangely wrought up thereby. The reaction 

 of curiosity, which almost invariably follows, has spent itself in vain upon 

 these people of the underworld, the night world, and what we do not know 

 about some of the Owls is likely to pass as a legacy to our children's 

 children. There have been those who knew a good deal about the Saw- 

 whet Owl. The late Dr. Julian Ralph, of Utica, New York, was chief 

 among them, for he assisted in the taking of five sets of their eggs in that 

 region. On the other hand, there are men a-plenty, reputable ornitholo- 

 gists among them, who never saw a Saw-whet Owl, and who do not know 

 their notes. 



Something more than a dozen occurrences of this bird have been noted 

 in California. Most of these have been in winter, but there are just 

 enough summer records to make us suspect that the bird may be found 

 breeding in forests, at suitable elevations, almost anywhere in the State. 

 Authorities differ as to whether the Saw-whet Owl is migratory, and it is 

 probably not so in the strict sense. It is, however, irregularly nomadic in 

 winter and the number of local birds is likely to be increased by visitors 

 from the north. Those who stay to brave the rigors of a northern climate 

 are likely to suffer through failure of food supply, and many winter speci- 

 mens have been taken by hand in an emaciated condition or picked up 

 dead. Mr. W. E. Saunders thus found twenty-four dead birds along the 

 northern shore of Lake Huron in 1906. It would be difficult to imagine 

 any other species of Owl suffering in this fashion with Tree Sparrows and 

 Juncoes about. But the fact is the Saw-whet appears to abstain alto- 

 gether from bird-flesh, and to depend entirely upon mice or frogs and 

 insects. It is, therefore, to be warmly commended and protected. 



The notes of the Saw-whet Owl have been from time immemorial 

 compared to the "filing of a cross-cut saw." The comparison must have 



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