150 BULLETIN 17 0, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



over, to rise wrathful but silent, and scramble into cover before a 

 second bolt should fall." 



Field marks. — The barn owl should be easily recognized anywhere 

 and at any time by its unique shape and color. Forbush (1927) says: 



"If seen sitting, may be recognized by its pale colors, long legs 

 and long, white, nearly heart-shaped face. If seen in flight, it may 

 be told by buffy upper plumage, light or white under plumage and 

 long wings; flies very lightly, often reeling from side to side." 



Fall. — Throughout most of its range the barn owl is a permanent 

 resident, but from the extreme northern portion it withdraws to some 

 extent. It is also inclined to wander about more or less irregularly 

 in fall. 



Thomas Mason Earl (1934) writes: "A curious flight of Barn 

 Owls was noted in 1917 just previous to the cold winter of 1917-1918. 

 Two or three times a day for several weeks during the November 

 hunting season Barn Owls were brought in for mounting. Other 

 taxidermists had the same experience as I and I believe by a con- 

 servative estimate 200 Barn Owls were killed in Central Ohio by 

 hunters, who encountered them everywhere." 



Dr. Evermann (1882) says: 



This owl is resident in Southern California, being somewhat gregarious in Fall 

 and Winter, during which seasons they frequent, in day time, the dense foliage 

 of the Live Oaks which abound in the lesser canons and fringe the lower slopes 

 of the foothills. On one occasion I drove more than fifty of these owls from a 

 clump of oaks in Canada de Largo, and I have often seen from eight to twelve 

 dozing quietly in one tree. The cross-beams under bridges form a favorite resort 

 for them. Between Santa Paula [and San Buenaventura, a distance of sixteen 

 miles, there are bridges over as many as six barancas. * * * 



In passing over this road, I have often taken the trouble to look under these 

 bridges, and I hardly ever failed to find from two to six Barn Owls sitting on the 

 cross-timbers, or on projecting portions of the walls. 



Alexander Sprunt, Jr. (1932) saw one come aboard a vessel 12 or 15 

 miles off the coast of North Carolina at 11 a. m. on November 1, 1931 ; 

 as there was a strong offshore wind blowing at the time, the bird may 

 have been blown away from the land, to which it was evidently strug- 

 gling to return. 



Winter. — Barn owls that linger too far north during severe winters 

 have been known to perish, perhaps from the intense cold, but more 

 likely from the lack of sufficient food to resist the low temperature. 

 Dr. Paul L. Errington (1931) records such a case. In a quarry near 

 Madison, Wis., on February 10, 1930, he found one of these owls 

 lying dead, and a few days later another. He says: 



They were lying on the ground at the base of the quarry face, in the crevices 

 of which face they had been accustomed to roost. A careful post-mortem dis- 

 closed that these birds had not met death from shooting or from direct mechanical 

 injury of any sort. Though lean, they were not emaciated. Their alimentary 





