( 532 ) 



geographical distribution. Sharpe was quite correct in considering that the various 

 forms of Barn Owls had not full specific valne in the old sense, but he was 

 inconsistent in not allowing them snbspecific rank, while recognising the various 

 forms of Bubo bubo. Scops magicus, and giu, of Surnia, Ninox, Syrnium and others. 

 Nevertheless, his work is the most valuable of all and teaches very much, though 

 one thing was, in my opinion, a mistake : i.e. that Strix rosenbei-gi was placed among 

 the synonyms of Strix Jiammea. I am sure that S. rosenbergi differs much and 

 belongs to another group of forms. 



In the new " Hand-List " (1899) Dr. Sharpe elevated to specific rank all the 

 forms of Strix he seemed to know, though not separating any of the European 

 ones, wliich he united with those of the whole of Africa. Dr. Sharpe's material, of 

 which he was justly proud in 1875, saying that it would be difficnit to find a more 

 comprehensive collection, was evidently inadequate, or the celebrated author could 

 not have said that the " dark phase," as he terms it, is rarer in old-world birds, 

 and that Indian individuals are darker than European ones, while in fact all Central 

 Europe is inhabited by a dark form. At present even the rich material now in the 

 Tring Museum is not sufficient, and my time too much occupied to discuss already 

 the Barn Owls of the world. I will therefore only speak of those of parts of 

 Europe and Northern Africa. 



Linnaens, in his tenth edition, did not know the Barn Owl. In the twelfth 

 edition he created the name Strix Jfammea. This name, however, is not quite as 

 clear as we might wish. The diagnosis is : " Strix capite laevi,* corpore luteo 

 punctis albis, subtus albido punctis nigricantibus." In the " Fauna Suecica " he said : 

 ■" Strix capite laevi, corpore luteo." He evidently did not know the bird at all, but 

 went merely liy books. In the " Fauna Suecica " he merely quotes Rudbeck, 

 who had said that the bird was rare near Upsala and " Tota flammea." He then 

 proceeds (in Ed. XII. Syst. Nat.) to quote first Frisch, who figured the German 

 form with brown underside. Then AJdrovandus (pp. 536, 538). Of these two places 

 p. 536 is to me doubtful. The description given there may mean almost any owl of 

 a size similar to that of a pigeon, while on p. 538 our Barn Owl is doubtlessly 

 represented. Then follow Willughby and Ray, who described the British " White 

 or Barn Owl." Linnaeus says : " Habitat in Europa." 



Thus Linnaeus' Strix Jiammea must be referred to the species which we call 

 now Jiammea, but it cannot easily be restricted to a certain subspecies, comprising 

 as it does the continental Central European as well as the white-bellied British form. 

 There remain, therefore, two courses : either to restrict the na.mej/ammea arbitrarily 

 to the North and Central European form, or to adopt for it as the third name the 

 next available one. Of these the first in print is Strix guttata C. L. Brehm, 1831. 

 This name refers to a light variety of the dark form with the underside white, or 

 merging from pale rusty yellow into whitish, in contradiction to the usual form 

 with dark rust-coloured underside, which the author calls Jiammea, and I think we had 

 better stick to this latter name for the dark Central European form. Scandinavian 

 and Danish birds are, as a rule, very dark below. In any case, Brehm's Strix 

 Jiammea obscura, vulga?-is, adsjjersa and guttata refer doubtless all to the same 

 form in various aberrations. The typical examples of his collection are 

 before me. 



To my surprise I find that the birds from Southern Spain, Tangiers, Southern 

 and Western France, the Channel Islands and Great Britain are all the same and 



• Meauiug that it bad no ears. 



