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. 
4 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 face. 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 always 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 I had not seen before, but which must have ji 
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 j 
oftener heard calling to one another. They had several differ- 
ent notes, one of which sounded like the syllable ^churfi” \ 
while another was a low “ t n JO-jur r r r.” 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 
i. 07 X .91. The shell, which is clear white, is slightly rough- 
