in their burrows, the eggs lying on and among the refuse. Incubation usually 

 commences with the first egg laid, and lasts about three weeks. The eggs are 

 almost invariably found in different stages of development, and downy young 

 may be found in the same nest with fresh eggs. Both sexes assist in incubation." 

 One of the best methods of studying the food habits of Owls is to gather the 

 pellets which they disgorge. These consist of the undigested refuse of their food, 

 hair, bones, feathers, etc. Sometimes enormous quantities of this refuse is found 

 in the nesting place of the Barn Owl, one recorded instance being two or three 

 cubic feet. When the tired farmer is buried deep in slumber and nature is 

 repairing the waste of wearied muscles, this night-flying bird commences its 

 beneficial work, which ceases only at the rising of the sun. All that has been 

 written regarding the food of the Barn Owl shows it to be of inestimable value 

 to agriculture. ' Mr. W. H. Hudson, of England, says of the Barn Owl : *Tt 

 is surprising that at the present day any one should think it necessar)' to write 

 a fresh plea for this bird — a bird that has been a favorite of our ornithologists 

 for the last hundred years and whose praises may be read in a hundred volumes 

 on our library shelves ! The feathered cat has been minutely and lovingly 

 described by all his biographers ! 'He who destroys an Owl is an encourager of 

 mice,' says one writer ; and his value as a mouse-killer, and his beauty and 

 singularity are points that are invariably dwelt upon.'' Major Bendire says: 

 "Looked at from an economic standpoint, it would be difficult to point out a more 

 useful bird than this Owl, and it deserves the fullest protection : but, as is too 

 often the case, man, who should be its best friend, is generally the worst enemy 

 it has to contend with, and is ruthlessly destroyed by him, partly on account of 

 its odd appearance and finely colored plumage, but oftener from the erroneous 

 belief that it destroys the farmer's poultry." Dr. A. K, Fisher, of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture, the greatest living authority on the food 

 of Hawks and Owls, presents in 'Science, N. S. Vol. HI, Xo. 69, pp. 623-624,' 

 the following emphatic brief, sJiowing the undeniable value of the Barn Owl. 



"In a work on 'The Hawks and Owls of the United States,' published in 

 1893, I recorded the results of the examination of 200 pellets or 'rejects' of the 

 Bam Owl taken from one of the towers of the Smithsonian Institution, Washing- 

 ton, D. C.,. June 28, 1890. Since that time 475 more have been collected — 125, 

 September 14, 1892, and 350, Januar}* 8, 1896, making in all a total of 675 'pellets.' 

 Thus abundant material has been carefully examined and found to contain the 

 remains of 1,821 mammals, birds and batrachians, as shown in the following table: 



1.119 Meadow Volts 

 4 Pine A'oles 

 452 House Mice 

 134 Common Rats 



1 White-footed Mouse 

 20 Tumping Mice 



2 Sora Rails 

 4 Bobolinks 



3 Red -winged Blackbirds 

 1 A'esper Sparrow 



10 Song Sparrows 



4 Swamp Sparrows 



624 



