The American Barn Owl 
No. 210 
American Barn Owl 
A. 0 . U. No. 365. Tyto perlata pratincola (Bonaparte). 
Synonyms.— Monkey-faced Owl. Tawny Owl. White Owl. 
Description. — Adult in medium plumage: General color-tone ochraceous tawny 
(above) and ochraceous buff (below); upperparts ochraceous tawny basally and in 
broad irregularly irruptive edgings, overlaid with finely mottled ashy gray and dusky; 
the tail crossed by four or five bars of dusky, the wing quills similarly marked, or else 
with alternating half-bars, the inner webs changing to white; underparts ochraceous 
buff or pale tawny, irregularly mingled with white, and marked sparingly and diffusely 
with rounded or wedge-shaped spots of blackish; facial disc of feathers having a peculiar¬ 
ly loose, open, but stiff texture, white, but variously stained with reddish brown, 
purplish brown, or claret, the characteristic color concentrated in solid spot in front 
of eye; the “rim” of close-set, shortened feathers colored like back and eye-spot (hence 
epitomizing the individual tone of the specimen in hand). Bill light-colored or horny- 
stained, claws dark horn. Dark extreme: Underparts dark ochraceous tawny; color of 
facial disc correspondingly intensified; dusky of upperparts stronger, or not. Light 
extreme: Upperparts chiefly ochraceous buff, the dusky mottling much reduced in area 
and intensity; underparts pure white or barely touched with buffy, the dusky spots 
smaller, reduced in number, or wanting; facial disc without stain; eye-spot lighter 
brown. Remark: These variations, sometimes referred to as “phases,” are held by 
most authorities to be independent of age or sex; but Ridgway says in a footnote: 
“Apparently, however, females average darker than males.” This suggestion receives 
striking confirmation from a series of 25 specimens in the Berkeley museum, where the 
darkest specimens, four in number, are all females; and the white birds, six in number, 
are without exception males. Moreover, the intergradation is so perfect as to suggest 
that females are progressively darker and males progressively lighter with age. Downy 
young are pure white, and have strikingly elongated faces, suggesting the primitive 
character of this group of owls. Length of adult males: 355.6-406.4 (14.00-16.00); 
wing 328.6 (12.94); tail 138.1 (5.44); culmen from cere 22.1 (.87); tarsus 73.3 (2.88). 
Females average a little larger. 
Recognition Marks. —Crow size; tawny or white coloration; rostrum (the beak 
with its bony support) elongated; facial disc, therefore, triangular, or heart-shaped. 
Nesting. — Nest: A cranny in cliff or building, or burrow in bank, or natural 
cavity in tree; unlined, save occasionally by hair and bones cast up by bird. Eggs: 
4 to 9, rarely 10 or 11 (24 of record); white, lusterless, ovate, short-ovate, or rarely 
elongate, very variable as to length. Av. of 34 California-taken specimens in the 
M. C. O. colls.: 42.4 x 32 (1.67 x 1.26); index 75. Season: March—June; January to 
September of record; one or two broods. 
Range of Tyto perlata. —North and Middle America. 
Range of T. p. pratincola. —North America, breeding from about Latitude 40 or 
42, south to southern Mexico, and casually north to the northern tier of states. 
Distribution in California. —Resident in Lower and LTpper Sonoran life zones 
practically throughout the State. Northernmost record on the coast, Trinidad, 
Humboldt County, June 17, 1916. Also found sparingly upon the Channel Islands. 
IO/O 
