174 



BARN OWLS 



Biological Survey, U. 8. Dept. 

 of Agriculture. 



Fig. 240. Barn Owl. 



white to yellowish hrown. dotted with triangular brown or blackish spots ; 



upper parts yellowish brown, more or 

 less overlaid with mottled g"ray, finely 

 streaked with black and white ; wings 

 and tail with a few dusky bands. Length : 

 14.75-18.0L). wing 12.50-14.00, tail 5.50- 

 7.50, bill .1)0-1.00. 



Distribution. — Breeds in Upper and 

 Lower Sonoran zones of the United 

 States, from about latitude 41^ (Ne- 

 braska), and southward through Mexico. 

 Migrates more or less in the northern 

 part of its rang-e. 



Nest. — In hollow trees, holes in cliffs, 

 Ijarns, old houses, and bell towers. 



Food. — In California, principally g'o- 

 phers and ground squirrels, together 

 with rabbits, birds, and insects. 



The barn owl, or more appropri- 

 ately s^-olden owl, spends its days in 

 any dark crevice that it finds con- 

 venient, from the hollow branch of a 

 tree to barn lofts, garrets, wells, 

 windmill tanks, and mining shafts. When driven out of its hiding 

 place in the daytime, an old owl will draw itself up, snap its bill, 

 and hiss at one in a way that might well terrify a nervous enemy. 

 At twilight it leaves its cover and with noiseless flight hurries to 

 some low meadow or marsh to hunt. 



In Califqi-nia it preys mainly on gophers and ground squirrels, 

 both of which rank among the w^orst pests in the country. The 

 ejected pellets found around the owls' nests often contain nothing 

 but gopher hair and bones, and in a number of instances Mr. Clark 

 P. Streator has found an accumulation of two or three cubic feet of 

 pellets in the trees in which the owls lived. Wherever the owls are 

 found they rank among the most beneficial of rapacious birds, for 

 they not only live on gophers and ground squirrels in the west, but 

 cotton rats in the south, and rats and mice in the north. 



When hunting, the owl's 'peevish scream' may often be heard, 

 and sometimes also a note that Major Bendire compares to the call 

 of the niglithawk. But the hungry young make the most noise. 

 Wlien camped beside an oak containing a family, Dr. Palmer found 

 them a great nuisance from the hissing and shrieking which they 

 kept up all night. 



In California in winter Mr. Evermann has found as many as fifty 

 barn owls together in the oaks. 



