saw-whet owl


saw-whet owl

(sô′wĕt′, -hwĕt′)n. Either of two small brown-and-white owls, Aegolius acadicus of North America or A. ridgwayi of Central America, having no ear tufts.
[From the resemblance of the owls' calls to the sound made in sharpening a saw .]

saw′-whet` owl`


n. a small North American owl, Aegolius acadicus, with a persistently repeated, mechanical sounding note. [1825–35, Amer.; from its cry being likened to a saw being whetted]