Notes on the habits, nests, and eggs of the genus <I>Glaucidium</I> (Boie)

^66

^{Bendire o» the}Habits of Glaucidium. ^[October

Sialia arctica.

— Common

migrant: arrived March ₂₇ in consideiable numbers. Breeds, but very sparingly, near the Fort; higher in the mountainsit iscommon,andthere replacesmexicana.

Tringaminutilla.

—

Thisspecieswasaccidentallyomittedfromthefirst instalment of the present paper. Itooka singlespecimenJul}'10.

NOTES ON THE HABITS, NESTS AND EGGS OF THE GENUS GLA UCIDIUM BOIE.

BY

CAPT, CHAS. E. BENDIRE.

The genus

Glaucidiui7i

was

institutedby Boiein1S26.

Only two

speciesand oneadditional subspecies are found withinthe limitsof theUnitedStates, asfarasis

known

atpresent.

These

are

Glaucidium gnoma

Wagler,the

Pygmy Owl.

Glaucidium gnoma

californicum Sclater, the

California Pygmy Owl.

Glaucidium

phalsenoides (Daud.),the

Ferruginous Pygmy Owl.

The

true G.

gnotna

is found in Mexico, throughout the middle province of the United States, north to

Oregon

(Fort

Klamath

and

Camp Harney)

and Coloi'ado. G.

gnoma

cali-

fornicum

isrestricted tothe Pacific Coastproper,between

San

Francisco

Bay

and British Columbia, inclusive.

These

little

Owls, I believe, are resident throughout the year wherever found.

The

general habits of the

Pygmy Owl

are bythis timepretty well

known,

and thereremains littlefor

me

toaddto their life history, thatisreally

new.

It isa well-established fact,that it is quite diurnal, and hunts its prey, to agreat extent at least, duringthedaytime,itsfood consisting not alone ofgrasshoppers andotherinsects,as

some

of theearliernaturalistssurmised, but also of birdsandthesmaller rodents,

some

of thelatterconsider-

ably heavierthanitself.

i8S8.] Bendireon theHabits ofGlaucidiuin.

3^7

I

presume

thatitisnotatall

uncommon

throughouttheentire mountainous and timbered portions of the

West

; but from its small sizeandretiring habits,generally being perched in dense evergreen trees, it is not often noticed by the naturalist, and usuallyonlybyaccident. Ihave takenitpersonallyintheBlue Mountains in

Washington

Territory, and in several places in Oregon,buthave never

met

with

more

thanoneata time.

My

specimens were, withbut a single exception,allfoundinornear the pine timber.

While

hunting

Sage Fowl

{Centrocercus urophasianus) on the

morning

of Feb._{5, 1875?} in thevicinity of

Camp

Harney,Oregon, Ishotafemale

Pygmy Owl

at least fivemiles from thenearest timber. It

was

pei'ched ona large bowlder,lyingat the footof a basalticcliti'from

which

it had broken^oft',and allowed

me

toapproach quite closely. It had just about finished its breakfast,furnished by a

Western

Tree

Sparrow

{Spizella monticola ochraced)^2.% indicated by the feathers scatteredaboutand on therock. It

was

inprimecon- ditionand exceedingly^fat.

The

firstof theselittle Owls,

coming

under

my

observation,

was

shot by Sergt.Smith,

who

used frequently to go gunning withme.

On

^the

morning

ofDec. 14, 1874,

we were

out hunt- ing Sooty Grouse iyDendragapiis obscurusfuligi)iosus) along thesouthern slopesand

amongst

thefoothillsof theBlue

Moun-

tains,a few miles north of

Camp

Harney, and had been quite successful.

The

Sergeant

was

walking along the edge of a

mesa

(tableland),whileI

was

aboutahundred yards

below

him, hunting

amongst some

serviceberry bushes

growing

abouthalf

way up

^theslope of thehill,and in

which

Grouse

were

usually found feeding at that timeof the year. Hearing the Sergeant

fire (he could not be seen from

where

I

was

at the time), I calledto

him

and asked

what

hehad shot. Hisreply

seemed

at the^instantratherstrangetome. It

was

"Captain,Ishot a

baby Owl,

ridingon a rat; Ihavegot them."

Had

Inot

known

the Sergeanttobea strictly sober

man,

notatall addictedtodrink- ing,I should havereadilyagreed with him,thathehad them, andlaiditto overindulgenceinsomethingstrongerthan water, onthat particular

morning

; but

when

Iclimbed

up

to

where

he

was

standing, thematter

was

fullyexplained.

It appears that a tall oldpine tree

had

been uprooted years ago by

some

of the heavy windstorms that occasionally

sweep

"i^S Bendire OfitheHabits of Glaucidium. ^[October

overthat region,and the roots of it

were

lying partlyundera younger and bushytreeof the

same

species,that

was

taking the place of the older one in the course of nature.

The

massive trunkof the old tree

was

freefrom limbsforaboutforty feet,and

was

slowlybut surely decaying.

A

large-sized pocket gopher,

who

perhaps found ^acongenial

home amongst

the roots of the old tree, on hearing the noise the Sergeant

made

in his ap- proach, had climbed

up

on tothetrunkof the tree,possibly to get a

good

viewof the intruderand to

warn

the balance of his family,

when,

quickasa flash, alittle

Pygmy Owl,

thathad been securely hidden

among

the-branches of the

growing

pine,

dropped down

with unerring

aim

on itsvictimand fastened its

sharp little talons securely into the astonished gopher's back.

Sergeant Smith'sattention

was drawn

to theperformance bya squeak fromthegopher which,intryingtoescape, ranalongon top of the fallen pine almost its entire length,

making

rather slow progress however,

hampered

bythe

Owl

asitwas,

when

the Sergeantfired, killing both.

During

this time,nearly acouple ofminutes, the

Owl

sat upright on the gopher's back, never letting

go

^{its hold an instant,twisting its head nearlyoff} the

bodv

in trying to keep an eye on the Sergeant,

who was

rapidly approaching, but apparently

showing

no uneasiness whatever.

He

told

me

thatthe

whole

thing

was

doneinsucha business-like manner,that it

was

evidently not the first rideof the kind thislittle

Owl

hadsotaken. Itheldontoitsprey even indeath. Ipublished ashort accountofthisoccurrence atthe time, intheProceedingsof the Boston Society ofNatural His- tory, Vol.

XVni,

Oct. 6, 1S75. Both specimens are in the National

Museum

Collection.

I also

met

withthe

Pygmy Owl

onseveral occasionsatFort Klamath, Oregon. I

remember

quite distinctly seeing one (presumablythe

same

individual) severaltimesatvarioushours of the day sitting patiently,but

wide awake,

on asingle long andslenderwillow branch overhanging Fort Creek, but alittle distance from the Post. I refrained from shooting it,as Isus- pected it nested in the vicinity, and it

would

also have been ratherdifficult tosecure. I can'tsay sopositively,but think it

used that particular perch for no otherpurpose than tocatch frogs.

The

willow

overhung

a marshy, reed-covered spot,

where

thewater

was

rather shallow,and

which seemed

tobea

i888.] Bendikeon theHabits of Glaucidium.

3^9

favoriteresort fornuml)ersof tliese batrachians. vSmall birds, of

which

there

were numbers

about in theimmediatevicinity in thewillowthicketsborderingthe stream, did not

seem

to resent thepresenceof thelittle

Owl,

and paidnoattentionwhateverto

it.

Its call notes

may

often be heard during the early spring

months

while mating,andusually shortlyafter

sundown.

Itslove notes are

by

no

means

unmusical.

They

resemble toa certain degreethecooingof the

Mourning Dove

(Zenaidzira

macrourd)

,

like'coohnh^ coohuh'softlyuttered,and a

number

oftimesre- peated.

Although

Ihavenot positivelyseen thisbird whilein the act of calling its mate, I

am

cjuite certain that the notes

emanated

fromthislittle

Owl

and noother. I

am

familiarwith thenotes of theAcadian andKennicott's

Owls

{Nyctala acadica and

Megascops

asio kcnnicottii^^ the only other of the small

Owls

atalllikely tobe foundthere,buttheirnotes are diHerent, andthey

were

not

met

by

me

while stationedatFortKlamath, Oregon.

Mr. Henshaw

found the

Pygmy Owls

quite

numerous

inthe southern

Rocky

Mountains, and states that they are rather sociable in disposition, especially duringthe fall months.

He

says that he hasimitated theircall and readily lured

them up

close

enough

to be interviewed. (See

Auk,

Vol. Ill, Jan., 1886,p. 79.) I

am

inclined to think that they are

much more common

therethan further north.

In regard to thenesting habits of the

Pygmy Owl,

but very

littleisyet

known,

andas farasI

am

aware,but

two

nests,one containing eggs, the otheryoung, havebeentaken.

Although

mention is

made

in Baird,

Brewer

and

Ridgway's

'History ofNorth

American

Birds,' Vol. Ill, p. 85, that this

Owl,

according toJ.

K.

Lord^ lays

two

small eggs, white in color, early in

May,

I think the credit of the discovery of the nestand eggsof thisspecies really belongs to

Mr. George H.

Ready,ofSanta Cruz, Cala.,

who

on

June

8, 1876,founda nest containing three eggs, oneof

which was

accidentally broken,in a deserted

Woodpecker's burrow

inan old isolated poplartree,

growing

on the banks of the

San

Lorenzo River nearSanta Cruz.

The burrow was

seventy-five feetfrom theground.

A

shortaccountofthis find

was

published by

me

inthe Proceed- ings of theBoston Society ofNaturalHistory,Vol.

XIX, March

T.*]0 Bendireon the Habits ofGlaiicidiuin. [Octoher

21, 1S79,p. 133, anda

somewhat

fullerdescriptionof thesame, by

W.

C. Cooper, can be found in the Bulletin of the Nuttall OrnithologicalClub, Vol.IV, April, 1879,p.86.

The two

eggs,of

which

drawings only are before me,are, according tothese, ovate inshape, dull white in color,with a scarcely perceptible yellowish tinge.

The

surface is said to be quite smooth, and to have the appearance of having been punctured witha finepoint over the

whole

egg.

Judging

from the drawings they are decidedlypointed forOwl's eggs, and perhaps

somewhat

abnormalin thisrespect. Theirsizeisgiven as 1.18

X

.90and 1.17

X

.87 inches.

According

to the latest classification these eggs

would

be referable to Glaiicidiiim

gnoma

californicum.

During

one of

my

absences from Fort Klamath, on official business matters,oneof

my men

foundon

June

10, 1883, a biu-

row

occupiedasanest by the true Glaticidium gnotna,

which

atthetime it

was

first discovered must have contained eggs.

The

nest

was

notdisturbed ^till the day after

my

return to the Post,

June

25,

when

he

showed

ittome.

The

nesting siteused

was

an old deserted

Woodpecker

burrow,in a badly decayed butstillliving aspen tree. It

was

about twenty feet from the ground.

The

cavity

was

abouteight inchesdeep and three and ahalf

wide

atthebottom. Thistree,with

two

others ofabout the

same

size,stood rightbehind,and butafewfeetfrom a.tar- get button the rifle range,

which

had been in dailyuse since

May

I,targetfiring going on from three to four hours daily.

Allthisshootingdidnot

seem

todisturbthese birds,forthefirst

egg

must

necessarily have been deposited

some two

or three

weeks

afterthe target practice season began, but the strangest thingis that the

Owls were

not discovered longbefore,as

two men employed

as markers

were

constantlybehind the butt in questionduringthefiringand directly facing the entrance hole of theburrow.

When

the nest

was shown me

I had it

exam-

ined,and

much

to

my

disgust found ^it to contain, instead of the

much

coveted eggs, four

young

birdsfrom a

week

toten days daysold perhaps. I took these;

two

of

them

are

now

in the National

Museum,

the remaining two, in

Mr.

William Brewster's collectionat

Cambridge,

Mass.

The

cavity

was

well filledwithfeathersof various kinds,andcontained, besides the young,the female parent and a full

grown

Say's

chipmunk

(

lamias

lateralis) that evidentlyhad just been carried in,as

i888.] Bendire071 the Habits of Glancidium. -2^1

it

was

not touched yet.

The

cavity

was

almost entirelyfilled

up

by^thecontents mentioned.

Judging fromthese accounts, the onlyI'eliableonesI

know

^of,

it

would

appearthat the

Pygmy

isone of the latestof the

Owl

tribe tobeginnidification, and itisnotatallprobablethat

more

thanonebroodisraisedinaseason, orthat inboththeinstances mentioned thefirstsetofeggshad beendestroyed.

The young

Owlets,

two

of

which

Ikeptalive forseveraldays,

made

akind of chirping noiselikeacricket.

The number

ofeggsto a set is

probably never

more

thanfour.

Glaucidium

phalaenoides

Daud. Ferruginous Pygmy Owl. —

This widelydistributedspecies

was

first described

by

Prince

Max

z.

Wied

in 1820. Itinhabits the

whole

of tropical

America

(the

West

Indiesexcepted),and isfoundto thenorth- ward, along the southwestern border of the United States, occurring in southern

Texas

and Arizona. It

was

first added to our fauna by the writer,

who

took several in the heavy mesquitethicketsborderingRillitto Creek,near the presentsite of

Camp

Lowell, in the vicinityof Tucson, Arizona, in 1S72.

The

firstspecimen

was

taken_Jan. 24, 1872,

showing

that itisa resident throughout theyear; other specimens

were

obtained duringthefollowingspringand

summer.

UnfortunatelyI

was

notanadept intaxidermy then; the skins

made

by

me

inthose days looked as iftheyhad passed through thejaws of a hun- grycoyote,and they were onl}' useful in determining species.

Like G.

gnoma^

thislittle

Owl

isquite diurnalinitshabits. Its call,according to

my own

notes, is 'c//?/,chu^ c/izi,^a

number

of times repeated,and ismostfrequentlyheard in theevening.

According

to

Mr.

F. Stephens, its note is a loud '•czick''

repeated several timesasrapidly astwiceeach second.

He

fur- ther states that at each utterance the birdjerked his tail and threw back his head. Occasionallya low chuck, audible for only a short distance, replaced the usual call.

Mr.

Stephens's notes,

come

perhapsnearer the

mark

than

my

ow^n; I

know him

to be an exceedingly careful, conscientious, and reliable ob- server.

According

to Prince

Max

^z.

Wied

in Burmeister's 'ThiereBrasiliens,'Vol. II, 1856, p.143,its call is said to be

'keck, keck, keck.'

The

bestaccountof thelifehistoryofthis little

Owl,

isfound inthe 'JournalfurOrnithologie,'Vol.

XVII,

1S69, pp. 244, 245,