BARN OWL 293 



the species. Again, when engaged chiefly in the 

 cajDture of injurious rodents which threaten the 

 very existence of the crops, it is the farmer's most 

 valuable* ally, and consequently should be most 

 carefully protected." 



The Great Horned Owl lives mainly in heavy 

 forests. I have often heard it in the night at 

 Lake Placid in the Adirondacks, and its loud, 

 deep-toned ivhoo-hoo-hoo-Jioo, ichoo, whooo was a 

 pleasant reminder of the unspoiled depths of the 

 forest. 



Barn Owl ; Monkey-faced Owl : Strix pratincola. 



(Plate XXVI. p. 294.) 



Geographic Distribution. — Southern and western United 

 States ; occasionally found as far north as Massachusetts ; 

 breeds from Long Island southward to Mexico. 



The Barn Owl is one of the most beneficial of 

 rapacious birds, its food consisting of rodents 

 that are a curse to the country they inhabit — 

 the gopher and ground squirrel in the west, the 

 cotton rat in the south, and various species of 

 rats and mice in the north. 



An interesting account of a family of Barn 

 Owls is given in the * Cincinnati Journal of 

 Natural History,' by Charles Dury. They lived 

 in the tower of the Town Hall in Glendale. Two 

 naturalists climbed the tower and raising the trap- 

 door at the top, saw a curious sight. The floor 

 and ledges were covered with the cast-up pellets 



