EGGS OF BEITISH BIRDS. 21 



FAMILY STBIGIDJE, 

 OR NOCTURNAL BIRDS OF PREY. 



The Owls on the British List number eleven, of which four 

 are indigenous, and six visitors. One, the Little Owl, originally 

 a migrant, has been introduced, and now nests in the vicinity of 

 its foster-home. 



THE BAKN OWL. 

 (Strix flammed.)* 



Plate 6, Fig. 3. 



The Barn Owl is a common resident throughout the British 

 Islands, including the Hebrides, but becomes rare towards the 

 north. It is a tropical bird, found throughout the equatorial 

 region of both hemispheres, and not ranging more than 40 degrees 

 north or south of the equator, except in Western Europe. 



The Barn Owl is not an early breeder, eggs seldom being found 

 before the end of April or the beginning of May; but it often 

 has two, and sometimes three broods in a season. Mr. Norgate 

 tells me that he has found unfledged young in November ; and 

 Waterton found one in December. Occasionally the eggs are 

 laid at intervals. I once climbed up to a Barn-Owl's nest in 

 a hollow oak near Oxford, and took out of the hole two nearly 

 fresh eggs, two young birds recently hatched, and two nearly 

 fledged. This must have been an exceptional case, as out of the 

 numerous nests which Mr. Norgate has taken he has never met 

 with a similar instance. The birds make no nest ; but the eggs 

 are often surrounded with pellets. The number of eggs varies 

 from three to seven. They are pure white, not quite so round 

 as Owls' eggs usually are, and have little or no gloss. They 

 vary in length from 17 to 153 inch, and in breadth from 1*3 

 to 12 inch. 



* Aluco flammea— Seebohm, Hist. Brit. B., L, p. 147 (1883). Strix flammea— Saunders, 



Manual, p. 281 (1889). 



