BARN OWL. 133 



Michigan, and has been captured in soutlieni Ontario. Tt migrates 

 more or less in the northern part of its range and th«M'e is an appreci- 

 able increase in the number of individuals to the southward during 

 the fall months. 



Soon after the sun lias passed the horizon and the iirst indications 

 of twilight appear, this Owl emerges from its retreat and hurries to 

 the hunting ground. It commonly resorts to the low meadow, prairie, 

 and marsh lands, where its fiivorite prey abounds. 



All testimony goes to show that the Barn Owl is one of the most 

 beneficial of rapacious birds. Audubon says of the American species: 

 "After long observation, I am satisfied that our bird feeds entirely on 

 the smaller species of quadrupeds, for I have never found any portions 

 of birds about their nests, not even the remains of a single feather in the 

 l)ellets which they regurgitate, and which are always formed of the bones 

 and hair of quadrupeds." (Ornithological Biography, vol. ii, p. 406.) 



Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier, in an article on the Barn Owl, says: "The 

 utility of the owl is illustrated by Lord Lilford with a very amusing- 

 anecdote. He states that when he was a schoolboy he had a half- 

 grown barn owl that he regaled on one occasion with as many mice as 

 it would swallow. Eight in quick succession disappeared down the 

 capacious gullet of the owl, the ninth followed all but the tail, which 

 for some time hung out of the mouth of the bird, but the quick diges- 

 tion of these raptores is well illustrated by the fact that in three hours 

 the owl was ready for a second meal, and took four additional mice. 



"If this is the performance of a single bird, the effect that the feeding 

 of nests of six or seven young would have on the numbers of rats and 

 mice in a district is self-evident. Lord Lilford says that he has seen a 

 l)air of barn owls bring food to their nest no less than seventeen times 

 within half an hour. This rate, if continued for only four hours out of 

 the twenty-four, would give (if we iuclude the animals eaten by the old 

 birds themselves) more than 150 'rats and mice and such small deer' 

 destroyed daily for the support of one nest of owls. Is it surprising 

 that vermin abound where their natural enemies have been extermin- 

 ated by farmers, gamekeepers, and plumassiers! 



"At this present time, when a plague of rats infest many districts of 

 the country, I need make no excuse for quoting the experience of so 

 sound and practical an ornithologist as the president of the B. O. U., 

 on the utility of the barn owl." (Field, vol. lxxv, No. 1950, June 21, 

 1890, p. 900.) 



Its food undoubtedly consists principally of several species of rodents 

 which, from their great numbers and destructive habits, are a curse to 

 the country they inhabit. The pouched gopher is one of the most de- 

 structive of this group, not only to vegetable and grain crops, but also 

 to shade and fruit trees. The depredations in the latter case, which 

 consists iu the gnawing or entire removal of the roots, are the more 

 serious as they often result in the total destruction of groves and 



