BIRDS OF NOETH AND MIDDLE AMERICA. 601 



heart-shaped. « Ear-opening relatively small, subquadrate, with a 

 rather small anterior subquadrate operculum. Wing very long, the 

 longest primaries exceeding distal secondaries by more than one- 

 third the total length of wing; tenth (apparent outermost) or ninth 

 primary longest, neither with inner web sinuated or emarginated. 

 Tailless than haK as long as wing, more or less distinctly emarginated. 

 Tarsus very long (nearly to quite twice as long as middle toe \\dthout 

 claw), densely clothed with short, soft feathers, those on the posterior 

 side reversed (incHned upward) ; toe scantily bristled ; inner toe as long 

 as middle toe, the outer much shorter; claws very long and sharp, 

 that of middle toe with its inner edge produced and pectinated. 



Coloration. — Plmnage with either white, buff, or tawny prevailing, 

 this usually more or less freckled or otherwise variegated (at least on 

 the upper parts) with brown or dusky. 



Range. — Nearly cosmopolitan, but wanting in colder regions. New 

 Zealand, Polynesia, and Madagascar. (Nearly 30 forms recognized, 

 of which about one-third are American.) 



The American barn owls comprise two very distinct groups; one 

 mainly continental (occurring off the continent only on the Bahamas, 

 Cuba, the Caymans, and Jamaica), and characterized by large size 

 (wing 312-360 mm.), the other exclusively insular, and distinguished 

 by small size (wing 226-254 mm.), together with peculiarities of col- 

 oration. There can be no question as to the specific distinctness of 

 the two groups, the former of which includes a single species divided 

 into a number of geographic forms (connected, in geographic sequence, 

 by intermediate specimens), while the latter as certainly represent 

 four species, one each peculiar to Haiti, the Lesser Antilles, Curacao, 

 and the Galapagos Archipelago. All, in my opinion, are specifically 

 distinct from the European T. alhus, for not only are the distinctive 

 characters of coloration, dimensions, etc., sufficiently marked but 

 their geographic isolation prevents the possibihty of intergradation. 



KEY TO THE SPECIES OP TYTO. 



a. Larger (wing 312-360 mm.). (Tyto perlata.) 

 b. Secondaries always conspicuously lighter in color than rest of wing, often white, 

 sometimes immaculate; under parts never wholly ochraceous or buffy; facial 

 border white to ochraceous-buff . (Cuba, Isle of Piaes, Grand Cayman, Cayman 



Brae, and Jamaica.) Tyto perlata furcata (p. 602). 



bb. Secondaries never (?) conspicuously lighter in color than rest of wing, rarely 

 at all paler, never white; imder parts frequently ochraceous or buff (except 

 in T. p. lucayana?); facial border ochraceous-buff to dark brown, rarely 

 whitish, 

 c. Paler, the imder parts usually white; upper parts usually with nmch ochra- 

 ceous or buff, this sometimes predominating. 



a The peculiar physiognomy of the barn owl is responsible for the common name 

 "Monkey-faced Owl" very generally applied to T. pratincola in the United States. 



