AMERICAN BARN OWL 151 



tracts were quite empty, except for a small amount of fecal matter in the intestine 

 of one of them. 



* * * The presence of these two in the quarry had been known for some 

 months, and their pellet accumulations had been gathered from time to time for 

 food habits study. It had been noted, as the winter had progressed, that the pellets 

 had been becoming smaller, due presumably to the protection afforded mice 

 and shrews by the snow. Many of the pellets last deposited contained the 

 remains of but a single meadow mouse (Microtus), instead of the three to six 

 small mammals making up a full size pellet. The owls were apparently unable 

 to take advantage of the winter population of small birds; at least they had not 

 done so. 



Ivan R. Tomkins writes to me that in Georgia he has ' 'often 

 flushed this species from dense cedar trees in winter and sometimes 

 from dry grass clumps." 



DISTRIBUTION 



Range. — Southern Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Allied 

 races occur in many parts of the world. 



The range of the barn owl extends north to southern British 

 Columbia (Ladner); North Dakota (Gilby and Grand Forks); Min- 

 nesota (Fairmont and Waterville); Wisconsin (Madison and Dodge 

 County); southern Michigan (Vicksburg, Ann Arbor, and South 

 Lyon); southern Ontario (Chatham, Hamilton, Toronto, and Kings- 

 ton); southern Vermont (Bennington); and Massachusetts (Wenham). 

 East to Massachusetts (Wenham, Lynn, Dedham, and Chilmark); 

 New York (Montauk, Jamaica, and Staten Island); New Jersey 

 (Lawrenceville and Camden); Maryland (Easton) ; Virginia (Toano); 

 South Carolina (Waverly Mills, Cooper River, Charleston, and St. 

 Helena Island) ; Georgia (Savannah and Blackboard Island) ; Florida 

 (Fernandina, St. Augustine, Longwood, Cape Canaveral, and Key 

 West); and Yucatan (Chichen-Itza). South to Yucatan (Chichen- 

 Itza); Tabasco (Macuspana); Oaxaca (Tehuan tepee) ; southern 

 Sinaloa (Esquinapa); and Baja California (San Jose del Cabo). 

 West to Baja California (San Juan del Cabo, Mira Flores, San 

 Andres, and Todos Santos Island); California (San Diego, Escondido, 

 San Onofre, Los Angeles, Santa Paula, Bakersfield, Shandon, Wat- 

 sonville, Santa Cruz, San Francisco, Nicasio, and Ferndale); Oregon 

 (Klamath Falls and Tillamook); Washington (Chinook, Point 

 Chehalis, Puyallup, and Tacoma); and British Columbia (Ladner). 



The range as above outlined includes the regions of more or less 

 regular occurrence. Actual breeding, however, has been recorded 

 only as far north as northern California (Ferndale); Nebraska 

 (Omaha); Iowa (Sioux City and Laporte City); southern Michigan 

 (Vicksburg and Ann Arbor) ; southern Ontario (Chatham) ; Connecti- 

 cut (Winsted); and Massachusetts (Chilmark). The record from 

 Ladner, British Columbia, is for a female in breeding condition, and 



