THE BARN OWLS OF PAKISTAN

We studied the feeding and breeding ecology of the barn owl (Tyto alba setertens) in the agroecosystems of eight districts of Pakistan. The owl nested away from the human habitation and depended mainly on old trees which were often located within the premises of Canal Rest Houses. The analysis of the 2360 regurgitated pelleted revealed that the house shrew (suncus murinus) dominated all diet samples (65.5%) in Punajb. The rats and mice (28%), birds (4.2%), and bats (2.0%) were also consumed in central Punjab. shrews (59%), birds(19%), rats and mice (13%) and insects (7%) were the main prey in southern Punjab, whereas rats and mice (93%), shrews(4%), amphibians and reptiles (3%) were the main prey in southeastern Baluchistan. The house shrew was the most common item in winter (78%) and was consumed the least during summer (27%). Egg-laying was observed between second week of August and October (n = 23) with a smaller number of nests (n = 5) recoreded in May-July. The mean clutch size averaged 5.83 eggs (SE = 0.47; range 1-12; N = 23) and brood size averaged 4.15 nestlings (SE = 0.28; range = 2-5; N = 20)