BARN OWL. 



Strix pratincola. 



Char. Colors extremely variable. Above, usually yellowish tawny or 

 orange brown, clouded with darker tints and spotted with white ; beneath, 

 buffish with dark spots ; face white, tinged with tawny ; bill whitish. 

 Some examples have but little marking on the back, and the face and 

 lower parts are pure white. Easily distinguished from other Owls by 

 peculiar facial disc. Length 15 to 21 inches. 



Nest. In barn or church tower or hollow tree, — usually the last. The 

 eggs are laid upon a mat of loosely laid twigs and weed-stems or grass. 



Egg^' 3-"; white; 1.75 X 1.30. 



There is scarcely any part of the world in which this com- 

 mon species is not found ; extending even to both sides of the 

 equator, it is met with in New Holland, India, and Brazil. It 

 is perhaps nowhere more rare than in this part of the United 

 States, and is only met with in Pennsylvania and New Jersey 

 in cold and severe winters. Nor is it ever so familiar as in 

 Europe, frequenting almost uniformly the hollows of trees. 



