glaucidium

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A genus of very small owls without plumicorns, with the facial disk imperfect, the tarsus feathered, the wings short, and the tail moderately long; the gnome-owls. The type is the pygmy or sparrow-owl, G. passerinum, of Europe, to which the gnome-owl of California, G. gnoma, is closely related. Another species of the United States is G. ferrugineum, and there are several more in the warmer parts of America, as the Cuban G. siju. These little owls, like species of Scops, exhibit dichromatism, having in different cases a red and a gray phase of plumage. Also called Phalænopsis and Microptynx.