I46 BIRDS OF THE REPUBLIC OF PANAMA PART 2 



In the towns, lechuzas are regular inhabitants of suitable shelters 

 about church towers and other buildings. In country areas they are 

 found especially in palm trees scattered through pasturelands. Rarely, 

 I have encountered them while night hunting, when their eyes glow 

 light golden yellow in reflected light. It has been more usual to 

 record them from their calls heard during the night about our quar- 

 ters in small towns, and from occasional glimpses of birds seen flying 

 at dusk. At Sona, Veraguas, where I found barn owls regularly 

 both in the town and in the country, one evening one flew into the 

 brilliantly lit church to perch on a beam where it remained for several 

 minutes. At Chepo they nested in a gable opening in the Alcaldia. 

 Those that I secured for specimens all had the stomach empty. Else- 

 where the barn owl is known to feed on mice, other small mammals, 

 and to a lesser extent on small birds and large insects. 



The race Tyto a. guatemalae ranges from western Guatemala 

 through southern Central America, to northern Colombia. It differs 

 from Tyto alba pratincola of North America and northern Central 

 America only in having slightly darker color. 



Family STRIGIDAE: Typical Owls; Buhos y Buhitos 



The family of owls, distributed through the world (except in 

 Antarctica) is universally known by name, but its species are seldom 

 seen except by woodsmen as they are mainly active in the darkness of 

 night. They are known to others through their calls, abrupt and loud 

 in many species, musical trills in others. As the authors are unseen 

 they are the base, worldwide, of many curious beliefs and supersti- 

 tions. Of the 123 species living through the World 14 are found in 

 the Isthmus of Panama. One of these, the burrowing owl, is a 

 casual migrant from the north. Four others are rare and little known 

 even to naturalists. All are predatory, the larger kinds feeding on 

 small mammals, birds, lizards, and large insects, mainly orthoptera. 

 The smaller ones are insectivorous, but also take other prey. Food is 

 swallowed in lumps, with bones, feathers, fur, and other indigestible 

 parts formed into pellets, which are regurgitated in due course to 

 make room in the stomach for the next meal. Owls hunt with ease on 

 the darkest of nights, guided by acute hearing that detects the slight- 

 est sound, even more than by sight. 



One species found in Panama, the striped owl, nests on the 

 ground. The other residents, so far as is known, use hollows in trees. 

 All lay eggs that are elliptical in form and white in color without 

 markings. 



