Size small; head moderate, without ear-tufts; wings moderate, fourth
quill usually longest; tail rather long; tarsi fully feathered; facial
disc obsolete; bill short, strong, rather wide at base; claws long,
curved, very sharp. This genus contains a few species, amongst which are
the smallest birds of this family.
1. Glaucidium infuscatum. (Temm.) The pigmy Owl.
Strix infuscata. Temm., Man. d’Orn., I. p. 97. (1820.)
Glaucidium gnoma. Wagler, Isis, XXV. p. 275. (1832.)
“Strix passerinoides. Temm.” Aud., Orn. Biog., V. p. 271; Oct.
ed., I. p. 117.
Aud., B. of Am., pl. 432, fig. 4, 5; Oct. ed., I. pl. 30.
Very small, the smallest Owl yet discovered in North America; head
moderate; outer three quills sinuated on their inner edges, fourth
quill longest; tail rather long; tarsi densely feathered; toes
partially covered with long hairs. Adult. Entire upper parts
brownish-olive, on the head with numerous circular spots of dull
white; a partially concealed white band around the neck behind,
succeeded by another of black; scapulars and superior coverts of the
wings with white spots; throat white; a narrow band of mottled
brownish-olive across the neck before; other under parts white, with
longitudinal stripes of dark olive-brown on the flanks and abdomen;
quills dark brown, with small spots of white on their outer edges, and
large circular spots of the same on their inner webs; tail dark brown,
with five or six pairs of circular or oval spots of white on every
feather, larger on the inner webs; bill light yellowish; irides
yellow.
Dimensions. Total length, 6½ to 7 inches; wing, 3¾; tail, 3 inches.