The Barn Owl {aiuco pmtincoia) 



Length, about 17 inches. Facial disk not circular as in our other owls; 

 plumage above, pale yellow : beneath, varying from silky white to pale bright 

 tawny. 



Range: Resident in Mexico, in the southern L'nited States, and north to 

 Xew York, Ohio, Nebraska and California. 



Habits and economic status : The barn owl, often called monkey-faced owl, 

 is one of the most beneficial of the birds of prey, since it feeds almost exclusively 

 on small mammals that injure farm produce, nursery, and orchard stock. It 

 himts principally in the open and consequently secures such mammals as pocket 

 gophers, field mice, common rats, house mice, harvest mice, kangaroo rats, and 

 cotton rats. It occasionally captures a few birds and insects. At least a half 

 bushel of the remains of pocket gophers have been found in the nesting cavity of 

 a pair of these birds. Remembering that a gopher has been known in a short 

 time to girdle seven apricot trees worth $100, it is hard to overestimate the value 

 of the service of a pair of barn owis. One thousand two hundred and forty- 

 seven pellets of the barn owl collected from the Smithsonian towers contained 

 3,100 skulls, of which 3,004, or 97 per cent, were of mammals; 92, or 3 per cent, 

 of birds; and 4 were of frogs. The bulk consisted of 1,987 field mice, 656 house 

 mice and 210 common rats. The birds eaten were mainly sparrows and black- 

 birds. This valual:)le owl should be rigidly protected throughout its entire 

 range. 



English Sparrow {Passer donicsticHs) 



Length, about 6 '4 niches. Its incessant chattering, quarrelsome disposition, 

 and abundance and familiarity aljout Iiuman habitations distinguish it from our 

 native sparrow. 



Range: Resident througlioul ihv l'nited Stales and southern lanada. 



Habits and economic status: Almost universally condemned since its intro- 

 duction into the l'nited States, tlie I'Lnghsh si)arrow has not only held its own, 

 l)Ul has c\er increased in numbers and extended its range in sjiite of all opposi- 

 tion. Its habit of <lri\ing out or even kilhng more beneticial species and the 

 defiling of buikhngs by its droi)])ings and by its own unsightly structures, are 

 serious objections to this sparrow. Moreover in rural di>tricts. it is destructive 

 to grain, fruit peas, beans, and other vegetables. ( )n the other hand, the bird 

 feeds to some extent on a large number of insect pests and this fact i)oints to tiie 

 need of a new investigation of the present economic status of the species, espe- 

 cially as it promises to be of service in holding in check the newly introduced 

 alfalfa weevil, which threatens the alfalfa industry in I'tah and neighboring 

 states. In cities most of tiie food of the English sparrow is waste material 

 sei-urcd from the streets. 



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