The American Barn Owl 
five Kangaroo Rats (. Perodipus ), one Pocket Mouse (Perognathus), and 
two White-footed Mice (. Peromyscus ). And Finley has said: 1 “An old 
Owl will capture as much or more food than a dozen cats in a night. The 
owlets are always hungry; they will eat their own weight in food every 
night and more if they could get it. A case is on record where a half- 
grown owl was given all the mice it could eat. It swallowed eight in 
rapid succession. The ninth followed all but the tail, which for some time 
hung out of the bird’s mouth. The rapid digestion of the Raptores is 
shown by the fact that in three hours the little glutton was ready for a 
second meal and swallowed four additional mice.” 
With this enormous capacity for destruction it becomes of real con¬ 
cern for us to know just what the Barn Owl eats. Exhaustive studies have 
been made by Government officials, studies which prove that the Barn 
Owl is without peer in the economic restraint of mice, moles, shrews, rats, 
and gophers. In its destruction of pocket gophers alone a single Barn Owl 
is worth from twenty to fifty dollars per annum to the State of California. 
When to this is added its services in destroying meadow mice of the Micro- 
tus group, the bird’s economic value is beyond calculation. 
Regarding the Barn Owl’s relations to the bird world, it has to be 
confessed that the smaller birds do appear occasionally upon its bill of 
fare. The proportion of birds found in an eastern investigation, for 
example, was nearly five per cent. But at that the adverse count is neg¬ 
ligible in comparison with its overwhelming services. The Barn Owl is 
certainly the least destructive to bird life of all owls, and we suspect that 
the percentage of destruction in the West is materially less than in the 
East. Much may be learned in this regard from the attitude of the smaller 
birds. Thus, the Sparrow Hawk (Cerchneis sparverius ), which only rarely 
attacks birds, goes and comes unnoticed by the smaller songsters, whereas 
the slightest movement of the Sharp-shinned Hawk is accompanied by a 
wave of apprehension. The facts regarding a night prowler are more 
difficult to get at, for his feathered victims are presumably asleep when 
the silent bolt falls. All I can say is that the accidental disturbance of a 
Barn Owl at midday is never attended by the hue and cry which invariably 
follows the course of a Horned Owl, or even a Screech Owl. The birds do 
not recognize Tyto as an enemy, if he is one. Mr. Brooks, here at Santa 
Barbara, saw a Burrowing Owl attack a Barn Owl sharply and put him to 
flight, but he was probably actuated by professional jealousy. On the 
other hand, I once had a pretty proof that at least one song bird does not 
fear the Barn Owl. The Barn Owl is nothing if not methodical. For some 
months past a bird in returning from the nightly hunt has passed exactly 
over the peak of our house, and barely clearing it,—using the point, 
Condor, Vol. VIII., July, 1906, p. 87. 
joy? 
