624 



SCIENCE 



[N. S. Vol. III. No. 69. 



Owl taken from one of the towers of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. 

 C, June 28, 1890. Since that time 475 

 more have been collected — 125, September 

 14, 1892 ; and 350, January 8, 1896, making 

 in all a total of 675 'pellets.' This abund- 

 ant material has been carefully examined 

 and found to contain the remains of 1821 

 mammals, birds and batrachians as shown 

 in the following table : 



1119 Meadow Voles (Microtm penmylvanicus) 

 4 Pine Voles [Wlicrotus pinetorum) 

 452 House Mice (3Ius musculus) 

 134 Common Eats {Mua deetimanus) . 



1 AVhite-footed Mouse (Peromyseus hucopus) 



20 Jumping Mice {Zapus Tiudsonicus) 

 1 Rabbit (Lepus sylvaUcim) 



33 Short-tailed Shrews (Bhirina brevicauda) 



21 Small Short-tailed Shrews {Blarina parva) 

 1 Star-nosed Mole [Condylura cristata) 



1 Brown Bat [Vesperugo fuscus) 



2 Sora Eails {Porzana Carolina) 



4 Bobolinks (DolicJionyx oryzivorus) 



3 Red-winged Blackbirds {Agelaius phceiiiccus) 

 1 Vesper Sparrow [Poocwtes gramineus) 



10 Song Sparrows [Slelospiza fasciata) 

 4. Swamp Sparrows {3Ielospiza georgiana) 

 1 Swallow (Peirochelidon)? 



1 Warbler (Dendroica) 



6 Marsh Wrens {Cistoihorus palustris) 



2 Spring Frogs (Bona pipiens)? 



A glance at this list will demonstrate to 

 any thoughtful person the immense value of 

 this useful bird in keeping noxious rodents 

 in check. Moreover, judging from the 

 species in the list, it may be seen that the 

 barn owl hunts almost exclusiveh^ in open 

 country, such as cultivated fields, meadows 

 and marsh lands, where such pests do most 

 damage. In Germany, according to Dr. 

 Bernard Altum (Journal f. Ornithologie, 

 1863, pp. 43 and 217) the barn owl feeds 

 extensively on shrews. In 703 'pellets,' a 

 number only slightly greater than that 

 which I examined, he found remaiiis of 

 1,579 shrews, an avepage of over two to each 

 * pellet,' while our 675 ' pellets ' contained 

 only 54 shrews, an average of one skull to 

 every 12i pellets. On the other hand our 



material contained the remains of 2\ mice 

 to each ' pellet,' or 93 per cent, of the 

 whole mass. The birds, which constitute 

 about 4f per cent, of the owl's food, are in 

 the main species of little economic im- 

 portance. A. K. FlSHEE. 



CURRENT NOTES ON ANTHROPOLOGY. 

 THE ETHNOLOGY OF TIBET. 



A VALUABLE article on this subject is pub- 

 lished in the last report of the National 

 Museum (Washington, 1895), prepared by 

 the experienced traveler, Mr. W. W. Eock- 

 hill. It describes the social customs, dress, 

 habitations, agriculture, food, music, money, 

 religion, etc., of the Tibetans with much 

 minuteness. 



Their civilization was demonstrably ob- 

 tained either from India or China, those 

 who may be styled the indigenous inliabit- 

 ants contributing very little to it. These 

 indigenes are now best represented by the 

 scanty and semi-nomadic population of the 

 northern plateaux, which rise to an average 

 altitude of more than 15,000 feet above the^ 

 sea level. They are known as ' Drupa,' 

 and although they belong to the same lin- 

 guistic familj^ as the Burmese they are 

 more remote than these from the physical 

 type of the Mongols. The hair, instead of 

 being straight, is w'avy, the eyes brown or 

 hazel, the nose often narrow and not much 

 depressed at the root. The skin is fre- 

 quently nearljr white and the cheeks rosy, 

 though on exposure the complexion may 

 become a dark brown. 



These traits present a physical type quite 

 dissimilar from that which ethnographers 

 term the Mongolian. 



RESEARCHES IN AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY. 



The twenty-ninth report of the Peabody 

 Museum of Archseology and Ethnology, at 

 Cambridge, Mass., is brief, covering but 

 nine pages, but contains a number of inter- 



