were about to oloee aroimd bis pliam) little fotm. By this 
action he suddenly presented from behind so broad and 
flat a surface that I could not grasp him, allhough my 
hand struck him squarely arid hard. He flew about 30 yards 
Into so?ne red ceda» where we found him again shortly after¬ 
wards, perched in one of these trees about 5 feet above the 
ground. This time he started bafore I could get hand 
nearer than five or six feet and after flying some twenty 
y^rds alighted only about 3 feet above the ground in a 
bushy young ^tilte pine. Here Renehaw had a try at him, 
getting bis hand within three feet of the bird before he 
flew. After a rather long search he was diecovered 100 
yards further on, perched in a grape-vine Just above a low 
stone wall, Henshaw again essayed to catch him but he was 
too alert and when he took wing was lost to sight almost at 
once and could not again be found. 
His flight On all these occasions was noiseless arid 
almost as leisurely and effortless as that oJ[ a big raoth, 
reminding me, also, of that of a -’fhippoorvfilt^flUBhed by 
dey in dense cover, for the bird skinned low over the 
ground and rarely for more than a few yards withoiit making 
a rather abrupt turn, I was surprised at his choosing so 
invariably perches less than sir feet above the ground and 
also by the fact that he did not once assume the stiff, 
erect pose, with feathers drawn in tightly and eyes 
reduced to vertical slits, to \:*ich the Saw-vrtiet and many 
other Owls is so given. The attitudes taken by this 
