STRIGIPJE THE BARN OWLS, 401 



Strix flammea d. americana COUES, B. N. W. 1874, 298. 



Aluco flammeus americanus RIDGW. Nom. N. Am. B. 1881, No. 394. 



HAB. United States generally, but more rare northward, and wanting in unwooded 

 districts; south through Mexico; north, occasionally, to Canada. 



SP. CHAK. Usua 1 plumage. Ground-color of the upper parts bright orange -ochra- 

 ceous; this overlaid in cloudings, on nearly the whole of the surface, with a delicate mot- 

 tling of blackish and white, the mottling continuous on the back and inner scapulars, and 

 on the ends of the primaries more faint, while along their edges it is more in the form of 

 fine dusky dots, thickly sprinkled. Each feather of the mottled surface (excepting the 

 secondaries and primaries) has a median dash of black, enclosing a roundish or cordate 

 spot of white near the end of the feather; on the secondaries and primaries the mottling 

 is condensed into indistinct tranverse bands, which are about four in number on the 

 former and five on the latter; primary coverts deeper orange-rufous than the other por- 

 tions, the mottling principally at their ends. Tail orange-ochraceous, finely mottled- 

 most densely terminally with dusky, fading into whitish at the tip, and crossed by 

 about five distinct bands of mottled dusky. Face white, tinged with wine-red; an ante- 

 orbital spot of dark claret-brown, this narrowly surrounding the eye; facial circle.from 

 forehead down to the ears (behind which it is white for an inch or so) soft orange-ochra- 

 ceous, similar to the ground-color of the upper parts, the lower half (from ears across 

 the throat) deeper ochraceous, the tips of the feathers blackish, the latter sometimes 

 predominating. Lower parts snowy white, but this more or less overlaid with a tinge of 

 fine orange-ochraceous, lighter than the tint of the upper parts; and, excepting on the 

 jugulum, anal region, and crissum, with numerous minute but distinct specks of black; 

 under surface of wings delicate yellowish white, the lining sparsely sprinkled with 

 black dots; inner webs of primaries with tranverse bars of mottled dusky near their 

 ends. 



Extreme plumages. Darkest (Male, No. 6,884, Tejon Valley, Gal.; Dr. Heermann): 

 There is no white whatever on the plumage, the lower parts being continuous light 

 ochraceous; the tibia 4 have numerous round spots of blackish. Lightest (No. 6.885, same 

 locality): Face and entire lower parts immaculate snow-white; facial circle white, with 

 the tips of the feathers orange; the secondaries, primaries, and tail show no bars, their 

 surface being uniformly and finely mottled. 



Measurements. (Male, No. 6,884, Tejon Valley, Cal. ; Dr. Heermann): Wing, 13.00; 

 tail, 5.70; culmen, .90; tarsus, 2.50; middle toe, 1.25. Wing formula, 2, 1-3. Among the 

 very numerous specimens in the collection, there is not one marked female. The ex- 

 tremes of a large series are as follows: Wing, 12.50-14.00; tail, 5.70-7.50; culmen, .90-1.10; 

 tarsus, 2.55-3.00. 



The American Barn Owl, although generally distributed and in 

 some localities common or even abundant, is by no means well 

 known to the general public. It is the bird which has figured so 

 often in the newspapers as the rare, remarkable, or anomalous 

 "Monkey- faced Owl" "only two specimens known," "Barnurn offered 

 five hundred dollars for this one," etc., with variations, according to 

 circumstances. It is rather a southern bird, being rarely, if ever, 

 found north of the Great Lakes, while it is probably common nowhere 

 north of the parallel of 40, except perhaps in California. 



Kegarding its habits, it may be said that it is decidedly nocturnal, 

 like many other owls, and that it has a special predilection for 



church towers and abandoned or little frequented buildings of 

 26 



