_Athene whitneyi_, COOPER, Proc. Cal. Acad. Sc. 1861, p. 118.
_Micrathene whitneyi_, COUES, Pr. Ac. Nat. Sc. Philad. 1866,
15.—ELLIOT, Illust. Am. B. I, xxix.—GRAYSON (LAWRENCE), Ann. N. Y.
Lyc.—COUES, Key, 1872, 207.
SP. CHAR. _Adult_ (♂, 208, J. G. Cooper, Fort Mohave, California,
April 26, 1861). Above umber-brown (less pure and uniform than in
_Glaucidium_), each feather with an irregular, transversely elliptical
spot of pale rufous, these largest on the forehead, bordering the
white eyebrows; the feathers everywhere minutely mottled transversely
with darker, this being most noticeable where bordering the yellowish
spots. Scapulars with their outer webs almost wholly white. Wings with
the ground-color a little darker than the back; lesser coverts with
numerous spots of light rufous, there being two on each feather, one
concealed; middle and secondary coverts with a very large oval spot of
pure white terminating the outer webs, the white spot on the latter
preceded by a pale rufous one. Secondaries with five (exposed) bands
of pale ochraceous (the last terminal), these passing into white on
the edge; primary coverts with three large ochraceous spots; primaries
with about six (including the terminal) conspicuous spots of the same,
those anterior to the emargination, on the third, fourth, and fifth
quills, almost white. Tail like the wings, but more uniform; crossed by
six irregular narrow bands of pale ochraceous, the last, or terminal,
of which is not well defined; these do not touch the shaft, and on the
inner webs they are pure white. Lores and eyebrows, cheeks, lining of
the wings, and ground-color of the lower parts, white; ear-coverts and
sub-orbital space like the crown, but more rusty; lateral lower parts
much washed with plumbeous, this especially prevalent on the flanks.
Behind the sharply defined white of the cheeks is a black transverse
wash. Throat, jugulum, breast, and abdomen, with each feather having a
medial longitudinal ragged-edged blotch of pale rufous, these blotches
most clearly defined on the abdomen, more confused anteriorly; anal
region and tibiæ almost immaculate; tibiæ with numerous transverse
narrow blackish bars, on a pale ochraceous ground. Lining of the
wing faintly spotted at the bend, and on the primary coverts, the
terminal half of which is plain dusky; under surface of primaries
blackish, with obscure transverse paler spots,—those anterior to
the emargination almost white; those beyond darker, the last being
scarcely distinguishable; on the longest quill eight can be detected.
Wing-formula, 4, 3=5–2, 6, 7, 8, 9–1. Length, “6.25”; extent, “15.25”;
wing, 4.40; tail, 2.30; culmen, .35; tarsus, .80; middle toe, .60.
A male from Socorro Island (49,678, Colonel A. J. Grayson) is less adult
than the preceding. The upper plumage is more brownish and more mottled;
the rufous spots, though deeper and larger, are less sharply defined;
the spots on the primaries are all ochraceous; the bands on the tail are
broader, though of the same number. Beneath the longitudinal blotches
do not appear, but the rusty rufous covers nearly the whole surface,
leaving the medial portion only white, and this not well defined; the
rusty shows ragged minute transverse bars of blackish. The whitish
collar round the nape is also better defined than in the type. Wing,
4.20; tail, 2.10. Wing-formula, 4, 3=5–6, 2–7, 8, 9, 10, 1. Length,
5.20; extent, 14.25.
Another specimen, 50,765, from the same locality, also apparently
immature, is just like the preceding in plumage. It measures, wing,
4.00; tail, 1.90.
[Illustration: _Micrathene whitneyi._]
HABITS. The type specimen of this diminutive species was shot at Fort
Mohave, in the Colorado Valley, latitude 35°, April 26, 1861, and two
others have since been taken on the Socorro Islands, off the western
coast of Mexico, by Colonel Grayson. It is smaller even than the little
California Pygmy Owl, and is therefore the smallest known to inhabit
North America. It resembles that species in its colors, but is thought
by Dr. Cooper to be more similar to the burrowing Owls in its generic
characters. It was found in a dense thicket, on a very windy morning,
and where it may have taken only a temporary refuge, after having been
blown down from some of the caverns in the barren mountains surrounding
the valley. In its stomach were found the remains of insects and the
feathers of small birds. Several specimens of this Owl were taken in
Arizona by Captain Bendire, one of which is now in the collection of the
Boston Society of Natural History. Captain Bendire also found one of
their nests, with two fully fledged young ones, in a hole of a mesquite
stump.