NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



235 



blotched with reddish-brown and umber, so thickly at the larger end as to com- 

 pletely obscure the ground, some are marked chiefly at the smaller end; in a series 

 of two hundred eggs before me, there is a wonderful diversity of coloring; some are 

 almost entirely unmarked. The shapes and sizes also exhibit great variations. Four 

 selected specimens measure 2.05x1.65, 2.21x1.76, 2.42x1.76, 2.54x1.87. The average 

 size is 2.40x1.75. 



364. OsPrey's Nest in Gtant Cactus. (From Tie N'idologist.') 



365. AMERICAN BARN OWL. Str'u pratincola Bonap. Geog. Dist.— 

 United States in general, south into Mexico. 



A beautiful ochraceous-yellow or amber-colored owl; sometimes called the 

 "Monkey-faced Owl." A constant resident of the southern portions of the United 

 States. Mr. Stuart says that in Florida the Barn Owl breeds most generally in 

 March, usually in hollow trees, sometimes in deserted buildings or in the wrecks of 

 boats left along the coast. I am informed by Mr. Shields that in the region of Los 

 Angeles, California, this Owl nests almost anywhere; in church towers, hollow trees, 

 holes in banks. In barns, pigeon houses, old crows' nests, and even in holes in the 

 ■ground. He took a set of five eggs from a nest in a burrow far out upon the plains. 

 The breeding season he states begins about the first of April, and continues until the 

 last of June. Natural cavities of trees are this bird's usual nesting places. Mr. 

 Samuel C. Evans writes tha; along the Santa Anna River are high banks, perforated 

 with holes, in wliich these owls nest. The eggs are often found in various stages of 

 incubation in the samo nest — some fresh and others nearly hatched. The nests are 

 scantily supplied with a few sticks, straw, bones and other refuse of food. The niini- 

 ber of eggs deposited by the Barn. Owl ranges from five to eleven, rarely the latter 



