134 THE HAWKS AND OWLS OF THE UNITED STATES. 



orchards. In California the favorite food of the Barn Owl is a 

 species of pouched gopher. AJl the stomaclis and pellets which we 

 have received from that State contained the remains of this animal. 

 The following extract from a letter by Clark P. Streator, gives import- 

 ant testimony on the subject: 



"In examining a large number of nests at all months of the year, I 

 have found nothing but goi^hers [Thomomys], except on one occasion 

 when there were one or two specimens of Brewer's blackbird. On 

 further investigation I found a deposit of pellets of nothing but gopher 

 hair and bones which had been ejected by the owls, and had accumu- 

 lated in a few instances to the extent of two or three cubic feet in the 

 trees in which they had lived. I also found that in the breeding season 

 it was not uncommon to find six or more gophers, that were not eaten by 

 the young, laying about the nest. I have found gophers in the nests 

 at other times than the breeding season, but not in such abundance." 



Prof. B. W. Evermann, who has had considerable experience with 

 the bird in California, writes of its food as follows : 



"Their food consists principally of the gopher {Thomomys talpoides 

 hnlbivorus) and the California ground squirrel {Spermophilus gram- 

 murus heecheyi), both of which are so destructive to growing cro^js and 

 fruit trees on the Pacific coast. Other small mammals, particularly 

 rabbits, birds, and insects go to make up its bill of fare. * * * 

 This owl is not large, yet it must be a very strong and courageous 

 bird, as evinced by the fact that I have often found in its burrows por- 

 tions of the large jackass hare {Lepus calif ornicus) or 'narrow- ganged 

 mule,' as popularly known in California." (Ornithologist and Oologist, 

 vol. VII, 1882, pp. 97-98.) 



In the East its food consists largely of mice and rats, which it de- 

 stroys with as much energy as it does the gophers in the West. All 

 the common species, including the meadow, house, and white-footed 

 mice, as well as the common rat, are eaten with equal relish. 



In certain portions of the Southern States where the cotton rat is 

 very numerous and destructive to many of the crops, the Barn Owl, 

 together with several other species of Hawks and Owls as well as a 

 number of predatory mammals, feeds extensively on them. Four 

 'pellets' sent by Dr. W. C. Avery, from Greensboro, Ala., contained 

 nothing except the remains of this mammal. 



Audubon and Bachman, in their biograi^hy of the cotton rat, give the 

 following: "This species supj)lies a considerable number of animals and 

 birds with food. Foxes and wild-cats especially destroy thousands; we 

 have observed minks coursing along the marshes in pursuit of them, 

 and have frequently seen them with one of these Rats in their mouth. 

 Marsh-hawks and several other species, may be constantly seen in the 

 autumn and winter months sailing over the fields, looking out for the 

 Cotton Rat. No animal in the Southern States becomes more regularly 

 the food of several species of owls than this. The barred owl {Syrnium 



