BARN OWLS 
174 
white to yellowish brown, dotted with triangular brown or blackish spots ; 
upper parts yellowish brown, more or 
less overlaid with mottled gray, finely 
streaked with black and white ; wings 
and tail with a few dusky bands. Length: 
14.75-18.00, wing 12.50-14.00, tail 5.50- 
7.50, bill .90-1.00. 
Distribution. — Breeds in Upper and 
Lower Sonoran zones of the United 
States, from about latitude 41° (Ne¬ 
braska), and southward through Mexico. 
Migrates more or less in the northern 
part of its range. 
Nest. — In hollow trees, holes in cliffs, 
barns, old houses, and bell towers. 
Food. — In California, principally go¬ 
phers and ground squirrels, together 
with rabbits, birds, and insects. 
The barn owl, or more appropri¬ 
ately golden owl, spends its days in 
any dark crevice that it finds con¬ 
venient, from the hollow branch of a 
tree to barn lofts, garrets, wells, 
windmill tanks, and mining shafts. When driven out of its hiding 
*place in the daytime, an old owl will draw itself up, snap its bill, 
and hiss at one in a way that might well terrify a nervous enemy. 
At twilight it leaves its cover and with noiseless flight hurries to 
some low meadow or marsh to hunt. 
In California it preys mainly on gophers and ground squirrels, 
both of which rank among the worst pests in the country. The 
ejected pellets found around the owls’ nests often contain nothing 
but gopher hair and bones, and in a number of instances Mr. Clark 
P. Streator has found an accumulation of two or three cubic feet of 
pellets in the trees in which the owls lived. Wherever the owls are 
found they rank among the most beneficial of rapacious birds, for 
they not only live on gophers and ground squirrels in the west, but 
cotton rats in the south, and rats and mice in the north. 
When hunting, the owl’s ‘peevish scream’ may often be heard, 
and sometimes also a note that Major Bendire compares to the call 
of the nighthawk. But the hungry young make the most noise. 
When camped beside an oak containing a family, Dr. Palmer found 
them a great nuisance from the hissing and shrieking which they 
kept up all night. 
In California in winter Mr. Evermann has found as many as fifty 
barn owls together in the oaks. 
