148 BIRDS OF ALABAMA 



December.^ A nest found by Holt in a hollow oak at Bara- 

 chias, January 8, 1912, contained two well-grown young and 

 one much smaller one; the eggs in this case must have been 

 deposited in November. The eggs, usually 5 to 7 in number, 

 are laid at irregular intervals, so that both fresh eggs and 

 young may be found in the nest at the same time. 



Food habits. — This little-known bird is one of the farmer's 

 best friends. Dr. Fisher says of it : "All testimony goes to 

 show that the barn owl is one of the most beneficial of rapa- 

 cious birds. Its food undoubtedly consists principally of sev- 

 eral species of rodents which, from their great numbers and 

 destructive habits, are a curse to the country they inhabit."** 



Examination of 200 "pellets" or castings of this species, 

 found in one of the towers of the Smithsonian Institution in 

 Washington, D. C, gave a striking record of the useful quali- 

 ties of the birds ; in these pellets were found 454 skulls — 225 

 of meadow mice, 2 of pine mice, 179 of house mice, 20 of barn 

 rats, 6 of jumping mice, 20 of shrews, and 1 of a mole; only 

 one bird skull was in this collection — that of a vesper sparrow. 



In a nest examined at Barachias by Holt, within 200 yards 

 of a farm house, about 20 "pellets" were collected, and on 

 examination proved to contain remains of 22 cotton rats 

 (Sigmodon hispidus), 6 house mice, 4 harvest mice (Reithro- 

 dontomys humulis merriami), 6 least shrews (Cryptotis par- 

 va), 1 frog, and 1 sparrow. The absence of poultry from these 

 remains is significant, but only serves to emphasize the uni- 

 versal testimony as to the beneficial habits of these owls. 

 They never attack domestic fowls and rarely pigeons or wild 

 birds, but the bulk of their food consists of noxious rodents — 

 field rats and mice, pocket gophers, kangaroo rats, shrews, 

 ground squirrels, house mice, and barn rats. Four pellets 

 sent to the Biological Survey by Dr. Avery, of Greensboro, 

 contained nothing but remains of cotton rats, and Audubon 

 mentions an instance in South Carolina in which these rodents 

 constituted the only food of a brood of young. 



tWayne, A. T., The Auk, vol. 25, p». 21-25, 1908. 



"Fisher, A. K., Bull. 3, Div. Ornith. and Mamm., p. 133, 1893. 



