THE BIRDS OF HAITI AND THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 237 



as Grotte San Francisco, near the summit of a long ridge of lime- 

 stone about three kilometers northeast of St. Michel. The specimens 

 were secured at a depth of less than a meter from the surface. In- 

 trigued by the peculiar mammalian bones from these same excava- 

 tions Gerrit S. Miller, jr., Curator of Mammals in the United States 

 National Museum, visited the section indicated in March and April, 

 1925, securing a large quantity of bones, among them many addi- 

 tional remains of this owl. These, which will be described fully 

 in a paper dealing with the birds represented in the bone deposits 

 of Haiti, give information on other parts of the skeleton additional 

 to the metatarsus. The results of Mr. Miller's work were so valu- 

 able that in December, 1927, under funds provided by Dr. W. L. 

 Abbott, Arthur J. Poole, Aid in the Division of Mammals, was sent 

 to St. Michel to complete the collections from these caves. This was 

 important at this time since it had been learned that earth from these 

 deposits was being removed for use as fertilizers, a procedure that 

 would destroy everything in the deposits of scientific value. Mr. 

 Poole remained in the field until March, 1928, during which period 

 he explored a number of caves, sifting the earth carefully and re- 

 covering a great mass of mammalian and avian bones among which 

 are many remains of this owl. The species is known from these 

 investigations from the Grotte San Francisco near St. Michel and 

 from caves above L'Atalaye a short distance away. 



The size of Tyto ostologa is apparent when it is known that a 

 complete metatarsus measures 93 mm. in length and that the other 

 bones of the skeleton are of proportionate dimensions. The meta- 

 tarsus in the ordinary barn owl is from 66 to 77 mm. long and is 

 much more slender. T. ostologa was apparently as tall or perhaps 

 somewhat taller than the great horned owl Bubo virginianus and 

 had very large, strong feet. Its period of existence as a species co- 

 incided with a flourishing native fauna of small mammals now so 

 far as known entirely extinct, whose existence was first indicated 

 in certain stories repeated by the historian Oviedo as he heard them 

 from the Indians but which were disregarded until discovery of an 

 abundance of mammalian bones in the caves from which come the 

 remains of Tyto ostologa. If we may judge from analogy with the 

 living barn owls these bone deposits are due to the activities of the 

 giant owl which foraged for its animal food, swallowed it with many 

 of the bones entire, and subsequently in its cavern homes regurgi- 

 tated the indigestible parts of its meals in the form of pellets which 

 formed the usual accumulations beneath its perches. From the re- 

 mains of these pellets we now secure skulls and other remains of 

 extinct insectivores, rats, and hutia-like mammals, and various birds 

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