The American Barn Owl 
whitewash,—excrement wherein the calcium of unassimilated bone-stuffs 
figures predominantly. But the second token, the refuse heap, is more 
interesting and more instructive. Below or beside each nest is an accumu¬ 
lation, sometimes decades old, of mammal-skulls, fur, and feathers, in part 
rejected portions from the banqueting table, but chiefly pellets, or “casts,” 
indigestible portions of food which are automatically ejected from the 
bird’s crop when the edible portions have been released. Barn Owls are 
prodigious eaters, and it becomes important to examine their table and 
their garbage can, both 
qualitatively and quan¬ 
titatively. As to quan¬ 
tity, I have seen dumps 
which contained not less 
than three bushels of 
material, with hundreds 
of skulls apparent on a 
superficial examination. 
Not even this represents 
the original mass, for in 
the older of the Aluco- 
nine kitchen middens, 
the lower strata have 
disintegrated and set¬ 
tled. The Barn Owl’s 
table, too, is always set. 
The youngsters are not 
only fed diligently all 
night, but a generous 
store is laid by for day¬ 
light lunches. The poor 
dears are sure to need a 
“piece,” you know! 
Thus, Fred Truesdale 
found six mice, three 
rats, and two gophers in 
a nest containing seven 
young. Tyler, of Fresno, 
found a nest containing 
four very small birds and 
six eggs, for which the 
following provision had 
been made: five Pocket 
Gophers (Thomomys ), 
Taken in San Bernardino County 
A WELL EARNED VIEW 
10/6 
Photo by Wright M. Pierce 
