34 
()RNrni()L()(}iST 
[Vol. G-No. f). 
Vancouver, on the Cohnnbia River, and 
subsequently Dr. Merideth Gairdner pro¬ 
cured several specimens from the same 
locality. Mr. John K. Lord met ^Nuth a 
pair on Vancouver's Island that made the 
hollow of an oak tree their rendezvous. 
Concealing himself in a deserted Indian 
lodge, their habits were closely watched 
by him. “In the first morning twilight 
the owls were up and in motion, hungry 
after a whole night's fasting. Their flight 
was short, quick and jerking, similar to 
that of the sparrow hawk, but wholly un 
like the muftled, noiseless flap of the night 
owls. Their food was found to be entire¬ 
ly insectivorous. When in i^ursuit of food 
they perch on a small branch near the 
ground and sit upright in an indolent, 
drowsy manner until their quick eye de¬ 
tects an insect when they suddenly pounce 
upon it, hold it down with their small but 
powerful claws, and with their shaiq) l)eak 
tear it in pieces, eating only the soft ab¬ 
dominal parts. As soon as their Inmger 
is appeased they retuin to the tree, cud 
diijig close together, and doze away the 
greater part of the day. In the evening 
twilight they again come out of their holes 
and take erratic flights around their al)ode, 
chasing each other up and down the plain 
and performing all kinds of inexplicable 
manoeuvres. Occasionally they settle on 
the ground, but never long at a time. As 
soon as it became dark they retired to 
their nests and there apparently passed the 
night. Eai ly in May they selected a large 
knot-hole in a branch of the tree and laid 
two small eggs, white in color, round and 
very rough on their surface. Nothing of 
any kind svas used as a lining, the eggs be¬ 
ing deposited on the bare wood.” 
Dr. Cooper saw a sj)ecimen in Washing¬ 
ton Territory, Noveml)er 1, 1854, among 
a flock of sj)arrows that did not seem at 
all disturbed by his presence. Dr. Suck- 
ley obtained two specimens at Puget 
Sound — tolerably abundant there, diurnal 
in their habits, gliding about in shady 
situations in pursuit of prey. Dr. New¬ 
berry procurt'd specimens on the Cascade 
Mountains of Oregon, and says, “It flies 
aljout with great freedom and acti’sfily by 
day, })ursuing small birds upon which it 
subsists, apparently as little in^^ommoded 
by the light as they are.” 
Captain Bendirc rei)orts it as found in 
the neighborhood of Camp Harney, Ore¬ 
gon. “December 14, 1874. This is the 
first of this species that I have ever seen. 
It is a female. On examination of the 
ovaries with a lens magnifying about six 
times, I counted two hundred and thirty 
undeveloped eggs, which would justify the 
conclusion that these birds live to a good 
old age. Hergt. Smith shot it to-day, while 
he was out hiuiting on the mountains north 
of the camp. He caught it in the act of 
trying to get away with a large sized wood- 
mouse or gopher. The mouse was on the 
end of a 2 )ine log, when the little owl sud¬ 
denly dropped down on it, out of a pine 
tree standing close to the log, in which it 
had been sitting, about twenty leet from 
the ground, and fastened its claws in its 
back. The mouse ran nearly the length 
of the log, about twenty-five feet, carrying 
the owl on its b.ick, the latter appearing 
imrfectly unconscious about where the 
mouse was going with her, keei)ing her 
head turned in the opposite direction. The 
time occupied in getting to the other end 
of the log was nearly two minutes, when 
he shot them both. That it is not strictly 
nocturnal is shown by the fai t that it was 
shot alxnit noon.” 
Dr. Cones in his “Birds of the North¬ 
west,” says, “I saw the Pigmy Owl several 
times at Fort Whipple, and secured two 
s 2 )ecimenB, which were fortiuiately male 
and female. I take it that this bird is 
common in the wooded regions and moun¬ 
tainous i)ortions of Arizona. One of my 
s])ecimens was moulting: the other, taken 
in winter, was in j)erfect plumage. Tliis 
warrants the belief that the species is resi¬ 
dent about Fort Whipple, and that it 
breeds there.’’ 
H. W. Henshaw, in his “Ilei)()rt ui>on 
