American Barn Owl. 
FURTHER NOTES, SEE NOS. 13, 14 VOL. VII. 
At the time of writing the article on the 
Barn Owl which appeared in former num- 
bers of the O. and O. I did not have 
ready access to my collection of eggs of 
that species, hence omitted saying anything 
regarding their average measurements, 
shape, color, etc. 
I have examined and taken measure- 
ments of forty different specimens. The 
largest one in the lot measured 1.76x1.50. 
Two measured 1.80x1.30, these being the 
longest eggs in the lot. The shortest 
specimen measured 1.60x1.30? The egg 
of greatest shorter diameter is 1.76x1.50 
— the first one mentioned; the one of 
least shorter diameter being 1.70x1.20; 
another very slender one measures 1.72 X 
1.22. The average measurement of the 
forty specimens is 1.69 X 1.32. The largest 
egg of the Bam Owl that I ever saw is 
one of a set of eight eggs now in the 
collection of Mr. Jos. M. Wade, and meas- 
ured 1.97 X 1.40 ; the other seven are of 
the usual size. There is considerable di- 
versity in the shape of the Barn Owls’ 
eggs, as is partially indicated by the above 
figures. Some are quite slender, the one 
most so being 1.70x1.20. This egg tapers 
almost uniformity from the centre toward 
each end. The specimen the ratio of 
whose diameters approaches most nearly 
to unity measures 1.62 X 1.36. There seems 
to be a greater difference in the shape of 
the two ends of the Barn Owls’ eggs than 
there is in those of the Screech, Burrow- 
ing, Long-eared, or Great-horned Owl. In 
a few specimens both ends are nearly 
rounded, while in a great majority the 
small end is much more tapering than the 
other. Thirteen specimens in my collec- 
tion are decidedly pyriform, while twenty 
others may be described as pyriform, but 
they are much more bluntly so. 
The structure of the shell is very differ- 
ent from the eggs of other species of owls, 
and seems to be less compact in tex- 
ture, and the surface is not of that glossy 
smoothness which belongs to the Burrow- 
ing and other owls ; it has a more chalky 
whiteness, a more dead, non-lustrous white 
than they. There is a certain oily appear- 
ance about these that is entirely wanting 
in the eggs of the Barn Owl. 
Capt. Bendire writes me that he thinks 
the eggs of the little Saw-whet Owl 
{Nyctale acadica, Gmel. .Bp.) most resem- 
ble those of the Barn Owl in this respect. 
Having no eggs of that species by me at 
present, I am unable to make any compar- 
isons of them. — li. W. Everman , Bur- 
lington, Oct, 1882 , p , /** 
The Barn Owl in California. 
BY CLARK P. STREATOR. 
If you will look carefully and examine hol- 
low trees, church towers, deserted buildings 
and rock cavities in the cliffs, in one of Califor- 
nia’s bright days of sunshine, you will usually 
find a resident at home. By approaching cau- 
tiously to the entrance, you peep in and observe 
a fearless looking, sleepy bird, crouched down 
upon a bed of hair and bones. He will at once 
begin squinting and looking at you, sometimes 
almost turning his head upside down. You ad- 
vance to catch him and he will make a noise 
like escaping steam, and should you catch the 
bird without getting your wrists and hands 
lacerated by its sharp claws, you can consider 
yourself lucky. 
But the Barn Owl is of untold benefit to the 
California planter, and no other California rap- 
torial does as little havoc and as much good as 
this species. Where I have observed the bird 
in Southern California, it feeds almost exclu- 
sively on gophers, which is the crop raiser’s 
worst enemy. My experience goes to show 
that the old birds stay in the same home , 
throughout the year, but on taking one 
specimen, I would go again in a few days and 
find another in its place, and by continuous ob- 
servations I would be able to find an owl there 
every mouth in the year. 
In the cavities of several live oak trees, I 
have found the cavities filled a foot in diameter 
and three feet deep, with nothing but pellets of 
gopher hair and bones that were thrown up by 
the owls. In California, the Barn Owl begins 
to lay in January, the number usually varies 
from three to five. On several occasions while 
examining their nests when the old birds were 
not around, I found the eggs were covered to 
a depth of an inch or more with gopher hair. 
The downy young birds are very interesting 
to study. When disturbed, they keep up a con- 
stant buzzing, hissing sound, so that one might 
mistake them for a colony of bees. 
While a single brood of young birds are be- 
ing reared, the number-of gophers that the old 
ones destroy will amount into the hundreds. 
Mr. P. C. Higgins, a prominent horticultur- 
ist and a very reliable man of Southern Califor- 
nia, daily observed a brood of these birds from 
the time they hatched until they left their nest. 
He says that there was rarely a morning when 
there were not a dozen gophers lying at the foot 
of the tree. They were the surplus after what 
they had eaten, and the number that he collect- 
ed was so great, that the dogs and cats made 
daily visits to the tree to feed upon them. 
O.*0.XlILJnL.lB88 p.109 
