STRiaiD.E — THE OWLS. 13 



toe, 1.30-1.40. Colors of var. praiincola, but less of the ochraceous, with 

 a greater prevalence of tlie gray mottling. Tail with fonr darlc bands. 

 Ildlt. Australia ......... var. deli cat ul a } 



Wing, 11.00-11.70: tail, 5.10-5.-10; culmen, .85 -.00: tarsus, 2..30 - 

 2.45; middle toe, 1.35-1.45. Same colors as var. deUcalnla. Tail witli 

 fonr dark bands (sometimes a trace of a fifth). Huh. India and Eastern 

 Africa ........... xsxt. jav aiiica.' 



Strix flammea, \;ii. pratincola, Boxap. 



AMEKICAN BARN OWL. 



Strix pratincola, Bun-.\i'. List, 1S3S, p. 7. — Dk K.^y, Zoiil. K. Y. II, 1841, 31, pi. xiii. 

 f. 28. — Gr.\y, Gen. B., fol. sp. 2. — C.\ssix, B. Cal. & Tex. 1854, p. 176. — Newb. 

 P. E. Rep. VI, IV, 1857, 76. — Heekm. do. VII, 1857, 34. —Cass. Birds N. Am. 1858, 

 47. _CouES, Prod. Orn. Ariz. (P. A. N. S. Philad. 1SC6), 13. —Sol. P. Z. S. 1859, 

 390 (Oaxaca). — Dressek, Ibis, 1865, 330 (Texas). — ? Brv.\nt, Pr. Host. See. 1867, 65 

 (Bahamas). Sti-ix pcrlata, Gu.\Y, List Birds Brit. Mus. 1848, 109 (not S. 2}crlata of 

 Light. !). — Ib. Hand List, I, 1869, 52. — K.vup, Monog. Strig. Pr. Zool. Soc. Lond. 

 IV, 1859, 247. Strix americana, AUD. Synop. 1839, 24. — Breweu, Wilson's Am. 

 Orn. 1852, 687. Strix flammea. Max. Reise Bras. II, 1820, 265. — WiLS. Am. Orn. 

 1808, pi. 1, f. 2. — .LuiES, ed. Wilson's Am. Orn. I, 1831, 111. — AuD. B. Am. 1831, 

 pi. clxxi. — Id. Orn. Biog. II, 1831, 403. —Snx, Av. Bras. I, 21. -Vig. Zool. Jom-. 

 Ill, 438. — Ib. Zoiil. Beech. Voy. p. 16. — Bo.vap. Ann. N. Y. Lye. II, 38. — Ib. Isis, 

 1832, 1140; Comsp. Av. p. 55. — Quay, List Birds Brit. Mus. 1844, 54. — Nutt. 

 Man. 1833, 139. Ulala flammea, Jaudine, ed. Wilson's Am. Orn. II, 1832, 264. Strix 

 flammea, var. amcricaiia, CoUES, Key, 1872, 201. 



Char. Arernrje plumage. Grouml-cnlor of the upper parts bright orange-ochr.a- 

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

 mottling of blackish and white; the mottling continuous on the back and inner scapu- 

 lars, and on the ends of the primaries more faint, while along their edges it is more iu 

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

 (excepting the secondaries and primaries) has a medial 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 obsolete transverse bands, which are about four 

 in number on the former and five on the latter ; primary coverts deeper orange-rufous 

 than the other portions, 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, I'rom forehead down to the ears (behind which it is white for an inch or so) 

 soft orange-ochraceous, similar to the ground-color of tlie upper parts ; the lower half 

 (from ears acros-s the throat) deeper ochraceous, the tips of the feathers blackish, the 

 latter sometimes predominating. Lower parts snowy-white, but this more or less over- 



1 Strix flammea, var. dclicntiila. Strix dclicalula, Gould, P. Z. .S. 1836, 140. — Ib. B. 

 Australia, I, pi. xxxi. — Stkickl. Orn. Syn. 1855, 180. Hab. Australia. 



^ Strix flammea, var. javanica. Strix javanica, Gmel. S. N. I, 295, 1789. — Lath. Ind. 

 Orn. p. 64, and Geu. Hist. I, 357. — House. L. Trans. XIII, 139. — Ghay', Gen. B. fob sp. 5, 

 pi. XV. — Syke.s, p. C'omm. Zoiil. Soc. pi. ii, 81. — Stuickl. Orn. Syn. I, 1855, ISO. Pluidilus 

 javanicus, Blytit, Joiirn. As. Soc. Beng. XIX, 513. Strix flammea, Peaks. & Bi.ytu. Uab. 

 Java and Southern India, and Eastern Africa. 



Z~ -i- t 1 -!'-'* 



