The Pygmy Owls 



defined, from Monterey northward, eastward north of the San Francisco Bay region, to 

 include the inner coastal ranges. 



Authorities. — Sclater {Glaucidium calif ornicum), Proc. Zool. Soc. London, 1857, 

 p. 126 (San Jose Valley); W. A. Cooper, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, vol. iv., 1879, p. 86 

 (Santa Cruz; desc. habits, nest and eggs) ;Grinnell, Auk, vol. xxx., 1913, p. 224 (measure- 

 ments); Ridgway, Birds N. and M. Am., part vi., 1914, p. 791 (orig. desc; type locality, 

 Humboldt Bay). 



No. 221c Rocky Mountain Pygmy Owl 



A. O. U. No. 379, part. Glaucidium gnoma pinicola Nelson. 



Description. — Adults: Similar to G. g. calif ornicum, but grayer and general 

 tone of the upperparts hair-brown or grayish hair-brown; streaks on underparts blacker. 

 Dimensions not materially different. 



Range of G. g. pinicola. — The Rocky Mountain district of the United States, 

 from Arizona to Montana (and west in mountains to confines of G. g. calif ornicum). 



Occurrence in California. — An adult female taken by Dr. Grinnell in the Pana- 

 mint Mountains is referred to this form. 



Authorities. — Grinnell, Condor, vol. xx., 1918, p. 86 (Panamint Mts.). 



SAVE to the few initiates, a meeting with this fascinating little fiend 

 must come as a happy accident. Fiend he is from the top of his gory 

 beak to the tips of his needle-like claws; but chances are you will forget 

 his gory character at sight and call him "perfectly cunning," just because 

 he is tiny and saucy and degage. Look your fill when fate brings him 

 your way, for like the wind, his royal owlets flitteth where he listeth, and 

 you cannot tell whence he comes nor whether he will come again this 

 twelvemonth. When my moment of privilege came, this pocket edition 

 of the powers that prey stood out boldly and unequivocally upon the 

 topmost splinter of a wayside stub in a northern forest, and challenged 

 attention. The gnome gave his back to the road, and now and then 

 teetered his tail, which was otherwise set at a jaunty angle, nervously, 

 as though there were something on his mind. But this preoccupation 

 did not deter the Owl from bending an occasional sharp glance of scrutiny 

 upon the birdman. Then all at once the bird whirled backward and 

 launched himself, like a bolt from a crossbow, at a mouse some sixty feet 

 away across the road. Seizing the "wee, timorous, cowerin' beastie" at 

 the very entrance of his hole, the bird maintained its grasp upon it with 

 both feet, and supported itself against the rodent's struggles by wings 

 outstretched upon the ground. Not until the squeakings of the victim 

 had quite ceased did the captor rise and disappear by rapid flight into the 

 wood. 



A second meeting was more prosaic, but still illuminating. The 

 Zwerg was out before sunset, but we never should have noticed him if we 

 had not been looking upward, intent on early pussy willows, amongst 

 which he sat, calmly, at the height of a dozen feet. There is always a 



//JO 



