STRI01D.4':. 



291 



THE BARN-OWL. 



Strix flammea, Linnceus. 



This species, also known as the White, Screech- or Church-Owl, 

 is generally distributed throughout England, Wales and Ireland ; it 

 might even be common, but for the persecution it suffers from game- 

 keepers, ignorant farmers, and dealers in plumes for ladies' hats, fire- 

 screens &:c. In Scotland it is not often found above the Lowlands, 

 though it breeds in small numbers as far as Caithness and the 

 Inner Hebrides, including Skye ; in the Orkneys and Shetlands it 

 is almost — if not quite — unknown. Immigrants, usually of the 

 dark phase which prevails in Denmark, are noticed at intervals, as 

 in 1859, and again in 1891. 



The Barn-Owl Avas observed by the late Mr. D. Meinertzhagen 

 at Muonioniska, in May 1897, but it is not known to nest 

 beyond the south of Sweden, to which it has spread from Den- 

 mark, where the bird is tolerably common. To Heligoland it is a 

 rare visitor. It is resident in Courland and not scarce in Poland ; 

 while in Central Russia it is found sparingly as far east as Tula and 

 Orel, becoming abundant in the southern provinces of Podolia and 

 Bessarabia. In Austro-Hungary and the greater part of Germany 



A A 2 



