An Outlaw Barn Owl
An Outlaw Barn Owl
On May 26, 1928, I visited Castle Rock, a large rock which lies off Crescent City, California, and which supports an extensive rookery of sea birds. There was an old cabin on the Island which had fallen partly to ruin. Under a built-in wooden bedstead was the nest of a Barn Owl (Aluco pratincola). The female flew out as I entered. Back in the corner, farthest from the light, were four owlets. The area covered by the bed was three inches deep with the feathers, wings and bodies of Beal Leach Petrels (Oceanodroma Zeucorhoa beali). These little birds were evidently so easily caught that there were numbers of bodies with only the heads removed, and I collected for study three specimens with hardly a feather misplaced. A good number of the bodies of the petrels were rotting and inhabited by fly larvae.
I am a staunch defender of the Raptores, but, in this case, as it seemed rather hard on the petrels, I disposed of the owlets.
Paul Bonnot
Stanford University, California, July 12, 1928
