THE CONDOR 
I VOL. V 
106 
Stray Notes From Southern Arizona 
BY F. H. fowler 
{Second Papers) 
E lf owl. The smallest, as well as one of the most interesting of all our 
owls, is about the commonest of the family in southern x\rizona. Its favorite 
nesting-place is the sahuara cactus and so “familiarity breeds contempt” only 
in the few cases where it abandons its beloved cactus and nests in a sycamore, 
cotton-wood, mesquite, or other tree. 
The only nest I found I came upon by accident. For some time I had kept 
watch of a pair of ant-eating woodpeckers that were excavating a nesting site in a 
sycamore stub, and at last when I judged there ought to be a full nest of eggs, I 
went out to secure it, armed with a ladder, saw, and sledge hammer. The hole 
was about thirty feet from the ground, and was easily reached by a man sent up 
the ladder, who, after sawing the stub half off, knocked away the top with the 
sledge. No sooner had he taken a peep into the shallow cup that remained, than 
he snatched off his hat and crammed it into the opening, shouting to my father at 
the same time, “Captain, here’s one of them air little owls.” And after another 
look, “She has three eggs, too!” The eggs and birds were soon safe in our hands, 
and the former are now among the most prized specimens of my collection. The 
parent was a very close sitter, and made no attempt to leave the eggs, even strug- 
gling to remain on them. 
About this time another of the species which was found sitting in the lower 
branches of a live oak, in a canyon a few miles south of the post, was collected by 
Dr. A. K. Fisher. So small is this owl that my father, who first saw it, called to 
the Doctor, “Say, here is a little owl about an inch and a half long,” and he was 
very much surprised at the greater size of the bird, when he got a chance to 
examine it. 
At Fort Bowie, on October 5, 1893, the bartender in the sutler’s store caught 
the only one I noted at that place. 
Capt. Bendire found them breeding commonly in the sahuaras near Tucson, 
and says in his paper on this species, in the first volume of his work, that, al- 
though they probably breed wherever found, the only eggs obtained (up to that 
time) had been colleeted at, or near that place. 
Arizona Woodpecker. The Arizona woodpecker {Dryobates arizonce') is, out- 
side of the alpine three-toed and pileated, the most interesting member of the 
woodpecker family, that I have ever seen. So far as I have noted, the species is 
never common, never noisy, and never at rest. I have not found it except in live- 
oak woods, and at Fort Huachuca; on a good field day I used to see about six on 
an average. Not ev'en the chickadees are as active as this little woodpecker. He 
will alight on the main trunk of the tree, or generally on one of the largest limbs, 
and the moment his claws are fastened in the bark he begins an untiring search 
for insects and grubs. He ascends rapidly in spirals picking and prying away 
small pieces of bark in search of food; when a promising limb is reached out he 
goes on it, often on the lower side. The search over in one tree, he wastes no 
time in looking around, but launches out, with barely a glance to determine the 
course, in his undulating flight to the next, there to repeat the performance. 
When closely approached, he works around the tree without paying any especial 
attention to the intruder, and when thoroughly frightened he v/ill take flight with 
a For explanatory introduction to the.se notes see The Conoor, V, p. 68.— lO). 
