BARN OWLS: AMERICAN BARN OWL 
315 
AMERICAN BARN OWL: Tyto alba pratincola (Bonaparte) 
Description. Length: 14.7-18 inches, wing 12.5-14, tail 5.7-7. 5 , bill .9-1, 
tarsus 2.2-3. Female larger than male. Adults: Upper parts tawny yellowish or 
brownish marbled with dusky and ashen , giving a clouded, grayish effect, feathers 
(except wings and tail) with median black streak and white dot; wings and tail with a 
few dusky bands; facial disc and underparts varying from pure white to yellowish 
brown, dotted with black, facial border dusky; iris dark brown, bill yellowish. 
Young: Long creamy down is followed by adult plumage. 
Range.— Extreme southern Canada, most of United States, Mexico, and Central 
America. Breeds mainly in Upper and Lower Austral Zones from Oregon, Cali¬ 
fornia, Utah, Colorado, Nebraska, southern Michigan, Ohio, New York, and Con¬ 
necticut southward over whole of Mexico to eastern Central America (at least in 
winter) casually to Washington. 
k tate Records. Although common to the west in California and to the east in 
Oklahoma, the Barn Owl is rather rare in the Rocky Mountain States. There is 
on y one suie record of its nesting in New Mexico, young nearly feathered having 
been noted the middle of June, 1912, near Mesilla (Merrill), where the species had 
been seen at various times all through the year; but it is reported to breed in the 
Animas Mountains (Goldman). 
One was taken September 2 about 1905 near Silver City (Hunn); [at Silver 
City (10 miles south) it was seen September 15, 1918 (Kellogg); at Santa Fe, one 
was seen September 14, 1926, on the Indian School campus (Jensen)]; and one No¬ 
vember 9, 1855, by Capt. Pope’s party at Dona Ana November 9, 1855 (Cassin). 
Near the Carlsbad Bird Reserve, it was noted in January, 1915 (Willett). In 
May it was noted at Mangus Springs (Ford).— W. W. Cooke. 
Nest. In hollow trees, holes in banks, wells, mine shafts, in old crow or wood rat 
nests, or in belfries, towers, barns, or other buildings. Eggs: Usually 5 to 7, white. 
Food. —Almost wholly mammals, including the pocket gopher, cotton rat, com¬ 
mon rat, wood rat, meadow mouse, and house mouse; but also a few insects and 
occasionally a bird. “It is one of the most useful of birds and should be protected 
at all times” (Forbush). 
General Habits. —Like the hawks, the owls have the habit of 
ejecting the indigestible parts of their food, as the bones and fur, in 
the form of pellets, fur-coated a^d smoothly modeled to prevent 
injury to the mucous membrane. These pellets may be found around 
the nesting and feeding grounds, and some of those of the American 
Barn Owl were found at one time on the upper balconies of the State 
House in Denver, Colorado. They have also been found in one of 
the towers of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D. C. Upon 
examination, 1,247 of these pellets yielded 3,100 skulls, those of field 
mice, 1,987; house mice, 656, rats, 210, birds, 92, mostly sparrows 
and blackbirds, giving a total of 97 per cent mammals, 3 per cent birds 
(Henshaw, 1913, pp. 4, 26); testimony which goes to prove the Barn 
Owl “one of the most beneficial of rapacious birds.” At Berkeley, 
California, Mr. G. L. Foster, by the examination of pellets found that 
in a year one pair destroyed 1,130 meadow mice, a total of 1,780 small 
mammals (1927, p. 246). The pocket gopher and ground squirrel, 
