26 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS 



Sept. 18, 1875, and Zool, 1875, pp. 4653 and 

 4672.) 



In July 1875 a hen bird of this species and live 

 young were taken in a marsh at Upton, Norfolk 

 (Stevenson), and in June 1876 a nest with five eggs 

 was taken, and the hen bird captured amongst furze 

 about five miles from Brighton (Dawson Rowley). 



In Dorsetshire, in June 1887, a nest containing 

 four eggs, from which the hen bird rose, was found 

 in a clover-field at Winterbourne, Kingston (Mansel 

 Pleydell) ; and in 1895 at least two broods were 

 reared in the New Forest (E. Meade Waldo). 



Fam. STRIGID^. 



WHITE or BARN OWL. Strix flammea, Linngeus. 

 PI. 4, fig. 3. Length, 14 in.; wing, 11 in.; tarsus, 

 2 in. 



Resident and generally distributed in England, 

 Wales, and Ireland. Less common in Scotland, 

 though met with as far north as Caithness, as well 

 as in the Inner Hebrides and Skye. 



As to the food of the Barn Owl, see Zool., 1888, 

 p. 83, where Mr. J. H. Gurney has given the result 

 of an examination of ninety-eight pellets, which 

 contained the remains of twenty-one sparrows and 

 finches, eight rats, numerous field-mice, and a few 

 shrews. A pair of Barn Owls have been observed 

 to bring as many as seventeen mice to their young 

 in one evening. 



Whenever these useful birds are killed ofi" by 



