290 The Ohio Naturalist. [Vol. VIII, No. 5, 



these seem scarcely sufficient to warrant the separation of the 

 species, at least without more exact knowledge as to the limit of 

 variation in this characteristic than I have at the present time. 

 The parasite must be quite rare as I have frequently secured 

 other forms of parasites from bats, and would certainly have 

 noted these if they had been common. Since the title of this 

 paper was forwarded I have receievd a paper from Professor 

 A. M. Banta on the fauna of May field Cave in which he mentions 

 the occurrence of fleas in connection with the bats of that cave, 

 l)ut he does not refer them to any particular genus or species. 

 Doubtless they belong to this genus and their specific deter- 

 mination would be a matter of interest. 



Note on the American Barn Owl. 



James S. Hine. 



The barn owl appears to be a rather common bird on the 

 Ohio State University grounds, but on account of its nocturnal 

 habits and quiet disposition it is not often seen. Several speci- 

 mens have been sent in from different parts of the state, indicat- 

 ing that the species is at home in other sections besides Columbus. 



Last fall, near the first of November it was observed that a 

 nest of the barn owl was located in a cavity in one of the large 

 sycamores in the field near the Biological Building. During the 

 early part of each night the young birds made a great deal of 

 noise, in their way, about the nest and the old ones were seen occa- 

 sionally leaving and returning. About the 10th of the same 

 month two of the young were observed on the ground near the 

 nesting tree, but, although they were quite well feathered they 

 could not fly sufficiently well to get back into the nest and so lost 

 their lives. The flight feathers were well out and the birds' were 

 just at the stage when they gave a fine exhibition of the pushing 

 out of the nest down by the more substantial body covering. 



The season of nesting is one of the more interesting points in 

 the matter, and if we consider Audubon's calculations as a guide 

 the eggs must have been deposited sometime in August, perhaps 

 near the middle of that month. As practically all of our birds 

 are through nesting at this season, it is difficult to arrive at the 

 ]joint of considering this the regular nesting time of the species 

 in question in this section. There is in the museum of the uni- 

 versity a set of eggs of the barn owl labelled Santa Paula, Cali- 

 fornia, March 27th. 



Some of the students and myself in looking over the ground 

 beneath the tree, picked up a number of the cast-up pellets 

 which contained many jaw bones of the common meadow mouse 

 and so far as we couUl judge this mammal furnished much of the 

 food of the owls. 



