56 
The Barn Owl 
is our greatest authority on the food of hawks and owls, collected and 
examined 675 pellets. This is what had composed the bill of fare of 
this owl family : 
1,119 Meadow Mice 
4 Pine Mice 
452 House Mice 
134 Common Rats 
1 White-footed Mouse 
20 Jumping Mice 
1 Rabbit 
33 Short-tailed Shrews 
21 Small Short-tailed Shrews 
1 Star-nosed Mole 
1 Brown Bat 
2 Sora Rails 
4 Bobolinks 
3 Red-winged Blackbirds 
1 Vesper Sparrow 
10 Song Sparrows 
4 Swamp Sparrows 
1 Swallow 
1 Warbler 
6 Marsh Wrens 
2 Spring Frogs 
Nesting 
Habits 
I have found the Barn Owl nesting in a variety of places. In well- 
settled parts of the country the home is often made 
in an old tower or belfry. I know of one pair that 
has lived for years in the tower of a court-house. 
The town clock just below the nest must have been a nuisance at first 
during their day-sleep ; but it was probably taken as something that 
could not be helped, much as we regard the clang and rumble of the 
street-cars under our windows at night. 
Throughout the western part of the United States, in places where 
there are few habitations of man, the Barn Owl as a rule seeks a cave 
in some cliff or among the rocks, or lives in a hollow stump. Four 
to six eggs are laid, as a rule, but sometimes as many as nine or ten 
are found in a single nest. They are white, globular, and about the 
size of the eggs of a bantam hen. 
Classification and Distribution 
i, 
The Barn Owl belongs to the Order Rap tores, the Suborder Striges, and 
the Family Aluconidce. Its scientific name is Aluco pratincola. It is found | 
locally throughout the greater portion of the United States ; only rarely, however, ! 
in the extreme northern and southeastern parts. It also ranges throughout Mexico. ; 
It is not migratory. 
This and other Educational Leaflets are for sale, at 5 cents each, by the National Association of 
Audubon Societies, 1974 Broadway, New York City. Lists given on request. 
