In the course of a small mammal survey 100 barn owl (qro alba Scop.) pellets and 50 fox (Mdpes d p e s L.) scats were collected at "Villa Demidoff Park" (Florence, Italy) during six weekly samp1in.p in the spring. Scat and pellet analvses were compared in order to point out advantages and disadvantages of these techniques as a tool in small mammal surveys. RIASSUNTO In uno studio sul popolamento di piccoli mammiferi nel "Parco di Villa Demidofr (Firenze, Italia) realizzato durante il periodo

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... maverile, sono state analizzate 100 borre di barbagianni (rito alba Scop.) e 50 Ceci di volpe (Vidpes vzilpes L.), raccolte nel corso di sei campionamenti a frequenza settimanale. Queste due metodologie sono state messe a confronto evidenziandone applicabilita' e funzionalità come strumento di indagine per il rilevamento di piccoli mammiferi. Parole chiave: Rilevamento di piccoli mammiferi; Vidpes idpes; Tvfo alba. Owl pellets, especially those of the barn owl, provide quite a complete description of small mammal fauna (Saint Girons et al., 1966; Gerdol et al., 1982; Contoli, 1984). Fox scats have been analyzed mainly to study the feeding habits of this carnivore, but seldom in mammal surveys (Brunner et al., 1976). This research aimed at evaluating the amount of information gained by using these two methods simultaneously and at optimizing the time and work involved. The study was conducted at "Villa Demidoff" qark (about 12 km N of Florence, Italy). The area (158 ha, altitude 327-541 m) is a mosaic of oakwood (55%), sowlands (25%) and uncultivated fields (20%). The annual average rainfall is 1100 mm and the average temperature 13.5 "C.