Nov., 1883.] AND C 
Enclosed please find a photograph of a 
pair of Owls which have been on exhibi- 
tion here for two or three weeks. The 
owner says they are the only pair in the 
United States of North America, and are 
native birds of Tartary. The photo is 
a very fair representation. He calls them 
“ Monkey-faced Owls.” The bill proper is 
very small, but the mouth extends almost 
to the eyes. Eyes as near as I could see 
were very small. Iris dark hazel. Back 
dark brown, marked very finely, breast 
speckled with brown, bill blackish, crown 
finely mottled, no tufts, tarsi long. Two 
pair were taken at the fort at St. Augus- 
tine, Florida, last February. One pair was 
bought for some scientific institute in 
Ohio but escaped. P. T. Barnum, the man 
says, offered him $500 but he refused. 
If they are American birds they are a 
cross of Barn Owl and something else. — 
IF! P. Tarrant , Saratoga. 
A specimen of the “Monkey-faced Owl,” a rare bird, was 
recently captured by Captain Pitts, of Orlando, Fla., in the 
Everglades. It is described as being somewhat smaller than 
the Hooting Owl. The plumage has the soft, furry texture 
of the owl family, but a tinge of orange enters into the 
color. The head and face are those of a baboon, the face 
being white, while the eyes are much smaller than those of 
an owl of the same size, coal-black and somewhat almond- 
shaped, opening and closing with lids like those of an ani- 
mal. In fact, they more nearly resemble the eyes of an 
otter than a bird. — Ex. 
O . & O. VIA. N ov . 1883 . P .*>• 
Breeding of the Barn Owl Near 
Philadelphia. 
BY HARRY G. PARKER, CHESTER, PENN. 
Tlie Tinicum meadows lying just below Phila- 
delphia, on the Delaware River, on account of 
their marshy nature and the quantity of insects 
anil small quadrupeds which abound, offer temp- 
tation of no mean kind to the Barn Owl (Aluco 
flammeus americanus), and I know of five in- 
stances of their eggs having been found there 
during the past eight years: 
April 13, 1877, Mr. Isaac Reiff, the well-known 
ooiogist of Philadelphia, took a fresh set of five 
eggs. 
April 13 and 15, 1881, the same gentleman took 
two more sets of four eggs each. 
April 18, 1882. This year the birds had been 
much disturbed, and only laid two eggs, which 
were left for incubation. 
April 12, 1885, I found a set of five fresh" eggs. 
These meadows are very low, and it is only by 
means of irrigation that they are rendered fit pas- 
ture land for the immense number of cattle which 
arrive from the west, and which are here allowed 
to recuperate and fatten before being slaughtered. 
The nests in every case were found in the re- 
cesses of some of the weather-beaten and blasted 
oaks which are here and there to be found, but 
which are growing fewer every year owing to 
storms. We never failed to detect the presence 
of the Barn Owls by means of the large pellets 
which they exude, and which are found lying 
about the trunks ot the trees where they have 
their nests. 
[The above instances of the Barn Owl breed- 
ing near Philadelphia are of more than common 
interest, owing to the fact that it is comparatively 
a rare bird in that neighborhood. 
This species of owl appears to be more common- 
in California than elsewhere, and it seems to lay 
more eggs in a set in that locality than it does 
further east. Seven and eight eggs are no un- 
common number there, but who ever heard of 
that many being found in one nest in any other 
part of the country ?— Ed.^.&O. XI. Mar. 1880. P. 3(p. 
?? 
