The nuclei ^163,164Dy have been investigated by use of the Oslo method on data from the pick-up reaction {(³He,\alpha )} and the inelastic scattering {(³He,³He')}, respectively. The experiment was conducted at the Oslo cyclotron laboratory (OCL). The \gamma -decay and ejectiles were measured with the CACTUS multidetector array, which consists of 28 NaI \gamma -detectores and 8 \Delta E - E Si particle telescopes. Thermodynamic quantities have been extracted within the micro-canonical ensemble theory. The pygmy resonance found around 3 MeV in the \gamma -ray strength function, also referred to as the scissors mode, was studied. The question whether the width of the pygmy resonance is reaction dependent is addressed.

PACS numbers: 21.10.Ma, 24.30.Gd, 25.55.Hp, 27.70.+q