

SCREECH OWL (Otus asio). 



Length, about 8 inches. 

 Our smallest owl with ear 

 tufts. There are two distinct 

 phases of plumage, one grayish 

 and the other bright rufous. 



Range: Resident through- 

 out the United States, south- 

 ern Canada, and northern 

 Mexico. 



Habits and economic status: 

 The little screech owl inhabits 

 orchards, groves, and thickets, 

 and hunts for its prey in such 

 places as well as along hedge- 

 rows and in the open. During warm spells in winter it forages quite extensively 

 and stores up in some hollow tree considerable quantities of food for use during 

 inclement weather. Such larders frequently contain enough mice or other prey 

 to bridge over a period of a week or more. With the exception of the burrowing 

 owl it is probably the most insectivorous of the nocturnal birds of prey. It feeds 

 also upon small mammals, birds, reptiles, batrachians, fish, spiders, crawfish, 

 scorpions, and earthworms. Grasshoppers, crickets, ground-dwelling beetles, 

 and caterpillars are its favorites among insects, as are field mice among mammals 

 and sparrows among birds. Out of 324 stomachs examined, 169 were found to 

 contain insects; 142, small mammals; 56, birds; and 15, crawfish. The screech 

 owl should be encouraged to stay near barns and outhouses, as it will keep in 

 check house mice and wood mice, which frequent such places. (See Biol. 

 Survey Bui. 3, pp. 163-173.) 



BARN OWL (Aluco pratincola). 



Length, about 17 inches. Facial disk not circular as in our other owls; 

 plumage above, pale yellow; beneath, varying from silky white to pale bright 

 tawny. 



Range: Resident in Mexico, in the southern United States, and north to New 

 York, Ohio, Nebraska, and California. 



Habits and economic status: The barn owl, often called monkey-faced owl, is 

 one of the most beneficial of the birds of prey, since it feeds almost exclusively 

 on small mammals that injure farm produce, nursery, and orchard stock. It 

 hunts principally in the open and consequently secures such mammals as pocket 

 gophers, field mice, common rats, house mice, harvest mice, kangaroo rats, and 

 cotton rats. It occasionally captures a few birds and insects. At least a half 

 bushel of the remains of pocket gophers have been found in the nesting cavity of 

 a pair of these birds. Remembering that a gopher has been known in a short 

 time to girdle seven apricot trees worth $100 it is hard to overestimate the 



value of the service of a pair 

 of barn owls. 1,247 pellets of 

 the barn owl collected from the 

 Smithsonian towers contained 

 3,100 skulls, of which 3,004, or 

 97 per cent, were of mammals; 

 92, or 3 per cent, of birds; and 

 4 were of frogs. The bulk con- 

 sisted of 1,987 field mice, 656 

 house mice, and 210 common 

 rats. The birds eaten were 

 mainly sparrows and blackbirds. 

 This valuable owl should be 

 rigidly protected throughout its 

 entire range. (See Biol. Survey 

 Bui. 3, pp. 132-139.) 



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