102 BIRDS OF OHIO. 
considerably larger than the Screech Owl, which may be 
reddish, but has ear tufts. 
“All testimony goes to show that the Barn Owl is one of 
the most beneficial of rapacious birds. .... Its food un- 
doubtedly consists principally of several species of rodents 
which, from their great number and destructive habits, are 
a curse to the country they inhabit..... In the east its 
food consists largely of mice and rats which it destroys 
with as much energy as it does the gophers of the west. 
All the common species, including the meadow, house, and 
white-footed mice, as well as the common rat are eaten with 
equal relish” (Fisher). Mr. Charles Dury gives an ac- 
count of a colony of these owls which lived in the town hall 
in Glendale, Ohio, in which he says, “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 their young 
there. The floor where they lived was literally covered 
with the pellets which the birds had disgorged, after the 
manner of the owl tribe.” It seems to be beyond question 
that one Barn Owl is worth a whole family of cats as a 
mouser, and that it is far less likely to steal a chicken than 
the average cat is. 
Family Buzsonip#. Other Owls. 
138. (366.) Asto WILsonIANUS (Less.). 153. 
American Long-eared Owl. 
Synonyms: Otus vulgaris var. wilsonianus, Asio americanus, 
Otus vulgaris, O. wilsonianus. 
Long-eared Owl, Cat Owl. 
Audubon, Orn. Biog., IV, 1838, 572. 
One must look in the woods for this owl, where it nests 
and where it feeds by night and rests by day. It is not 
common anywhere in the state, but is pretty generally dis- 
tributed. In Lorain county it has been found both singly 
and in companies of six individuals in winter, and its cry is 
sometimes heard during the summer while it is nesting. It 
