BARN OWLS 



(Family Aluconidce) 



American Barn Owl 



{Aluco Pratincola) 



Called also: MONKEY FACED OWL 



(Illustration facing p. 336) 



Length — 15 to 18 inches: female the larger. 



Male and Fema/e— Upper parts mottled gray and buff finely 

 speckled with black and white; heart-shaped facial disks 

 and under parts whitish or buff, the latter with small round 

 black spots; tail white or buff, mottled with black, and 

 sometimes with three or four narrow black bars like the 

 wings; eyes small, black; no horns; long, feathered legs; 

 long, pointed wings reaching beyond tail. 



Range — United States, rarely reaching Canada, south to Mexico, 

 nesting from New York state southward. 



Season — Permanent resident, except at northern limit of range. 



The American counterpart of "wise Minerva's only fowl," 

 known best by its startling scream, keeps its odd, triangular face, 

 its speckled and mottled downy feathers, and its body, that looks 

 more slender than it really is, owing to its long wings, well con- 

 cealed by day ; and so silently does it move about at night that 

 only in the moonlight can one hope for a passing glimpse as the 

 barn owl sails about on wide-spread, tapering wings, and with a 

 hawk-like movement, from tree to tree. "The face looks like 

 that of a toothless, hooked-nosed old woman, shrouded in a 

 closely fitting hood," says Mrs. Wright, "and has a half-simple, 

 half-sly expression that gives it a mysterious air. " Periodically a 

 very old hoax is played on a credulous public by some newspaper 

 reporter who declares that in such a town, by such a man, a curi- 

 ous creature has just been caught, half -bird and half-monkey ! 



By day, all owls look sleepy and sad ; but at dusk, when rats 



335 



