BIRDS OF INDIANA. 801 



1878. Mr. Nelson had noted two taken near Chicago. The year 1883 

 is notable for a sudden increase in the number observed north of the 

 Ohio Eiver. In October of that year ten Barn Owls were killed near 

 Cincinnati, several of which were found occupying the tower of the 

 town hall at Grlendale, 0. On October 18th, Mr. Chas. Dury visited 

 the town hall at Grlendale. Four Barn Owls flew out. I give some 

 extracts from Mr. Dury's account. The floor and ledges were covered 

 with the cast-up pellets of the birds. 



"With Owls the indigestible matter is formed into balls in the 

 stomach, and afterwards cast up. These are called pellets. They 

 covered the floor several inches deep in places. I examined many of 

 them, and found them made up entirely of the hair and bones of 



Foot of Barn Owl. Natural size. 



the smaller rodents, mostly mice. There must have been the debris 

 of several thousand mice and rats. But the strangest part of the 

 curious habitation was the flock of domestic pigeons that were living, 

 seemingly, on intimate terms with the Owls, and judging from the 

 old pigeon nests, I presume the pigeons had actually nested and reared 

 young there" (Journ. Cin. Soc. N. H., Dec., 1883, pp. 237, 238.) Soon 

 afterwards two Barn Owls were taken at Monroe, Ohio. 



These birds also spread into Indiana. October 25, 1883, the only 

 one ever reported in the Whitewater Valley was killed near Brook- 

 ville. There is one in the collection at the State Museum that was 

 taken at Franklin, December, 1883. They bred near Frankfort, 

 Clinton County, in the summer of 1889. In Vigo County young were 

 taken about July 18, 1890. In the north part of Tippecanoe County, 

 two young were taken from the nest in a hole in a large elm, about 

 June 15, 1890. The winter of 1891-92, Mr. Fletcher M. Noe received 

 three of those owls taken in this State. The following additional 

 records are at hand: January 19, 1893, one was found dead in an old 

 61 GEOL. 



