BARN OWLS. FAMILY ALUCONIDÆ
BARN OWL
Aluco pratincola pratincola. [Case 3], Fig. 17
A light-colored Owl, looking almost white in the dusk. L. 18.
Range. Barn Owls are found throughout the world. Our species is rare north of New Jersey and Ohio. It is migratory only at the northern limit of its range.
Washington, not rare P.R. Ossining, A.V.
This is the 'Monkey-faced Owl' of towers and steeples. Few who hear its loud, sudden scream or rapidly repeated crree-crree-crree know their author, who may live for years in the heart of a village a stranger to its human inhabitants. The mice, however, have tragic evidence of his presence in the nightly raids he makes upon their ranks. The nest is made in the diurnal retreat, 5-9 white eggs being laid in April.