146 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



Food habits. — The food of this bird is composed exclusively 

 of fish ; in Florida, it is said to live almost entirely on catfish, 

 while in other localities it is known to take menhaden, herring, 

 goldfish, sunfish, shad, perch, and trout. 



BARN OWLS: Family Tytonida*.* 



BARN OWL; MONKEY-FACED OWL: Tyto alba pmtincola 



(Bonaparte) .f 



State records. — The barn owl (fig. 4) is a locally common 

 resident, but by reason of its nocturnal habits is rarely seen. 

 Dr. Avery speaks of it as abundant on a plantation 6 miles 

 south of Greensboro; and E. W. Graves reports it rare on 

 Sand Mountain. Mrs. B. R. Samuel has a specimen taken at 

 Guntersville. It is reported also by Miss C. E. Parkhurst as 

 occurring at Talladega. A specimen taken at Montgomery 

 January 28, 1881, is in the National Museum collection; and 

 one taken at Barachias, June 13, 1911, is in the Biological Sur- 

 vey collection. On the Gulf beach, near the mouth of Perdido 

 Bay, on December 8, 1915, I flushed one of these owls from 

 a pine tree in bright sunlight and later secured it as it rose 

 from a clump of palmetto bushes, a most unusual situation for 

 this bird to select. 



General habits. — The barn owl is not often found in the 

 woods but lives chiefly about farm lands and even in towns 

 or large cities. It is almost wholly nocturnal and is therefore 

 rardy seen and little known. It spends the daylight hours 

 concealed in a hollow tree or other cavity, in a church steeple, 

 or the attic of a house or barn. At dusk it sallies forth over 

 the fields or marshes seeking its prey of mice, rats, or other 

 rodents. At such times, according to Bendire, it often utters 

 a peculiar screaming note. 



Its nests are placed in deserted buildings, in towers, belfries, 

 hollow trees, or in holes in cut banks. A remarkable feature 

 of its life history is its habit in the South of breeding in 

 autumn or winter as well as in spring. Its eggs have been 

 found in South Carolina in September, and in Florida in 



'Alneonidae of the A. O. U. Check-list; chanee necessary by reason of change of 

 generic name from AInco to Tyto. 



tAluco pratincole of the A. O. U. Check-list; for change of name see The Auk vol. 

 S3, p. 430, 1916. 



