1. sTBix. 295 



flammea. It is seldom that an opportunity is afforded to the orni- 

 thologist of examining such a fine series of hirds as has been per- 

 mitted to me in the case of the Barn-Owls ; and it would be difiicult 

 to find a more comprehensive collection than at present exists in the 

 British Museum. Every single variation of the ordinary type has been 

 examined by me ; and I have had in all cases one or two specimens 

 of the rarer or more obscure forms on which to found my conclusions. 

 Mr. G. E. Gray, in the ' Hand-list,' has recognized no less than twelve 

 species ; but a very short study will sufiice to show that not one half 

 of these species can be maiaitained. Mr. Ridgway also separates 

 the Barn-Owls into different races, and he considers that seven can 

 be differentiated. The first of these is Strix flammea, inhabiting 

 Europe and the Mediterranean region of Africa. In America it is 

 represented by S. x^ratmcola, the habitat of which is Mexico and 

 southern North America, the only character given by Mr. Ridgway 

 being, however, its larger size. A difference of an inch and a half in 

 the wing is the extreme variation that I can find, this measuring in 

 European examples from 11 to 12-4 inches, in American ones from 

 12-9 to 13-7 inches. The latter have the tarsus measuring 2-65-3-01 

 inches, against 2-2 to 2-5 inches in the European. The colour of the 

 American bird is darker ; and the dark phase, which is rarer in the 

 Old-World birds, seems to be the permanent form in the New World. 

 Indian Barn-Owls are rather darker than European and clearer grey 

 above, in the latter respect becoming more like the Australian S. de- 

 licatida, whose pearly grey colour has been its chief specific cha- 

 racter ; sometimes, however, Australian examples are not to be distin- 

 guished from European ; wing, in the latter, 10-8-11-3 inches, tarsus 

 2-4-2-6. Mr. Ridgway then separates S. javanka (from India and 

 Eastern Africa) as a bird of the same colours as .S'. delkatida. The 

 African Barn-Owl, according to my experience, is always darker 

 than the European, especially the specimens from Southern Africa ; 

 but they are again scarcely distinguished from the dark phase of S. 

 flam77ie((. The Indian examples, on the contrary, run paler in colour, 

 and are often nearly uniform grey on the back. In Java and the 

 Malayan subregion a slight modification takes i)lace, and the trace 

 of zigzag markings on the breast, sometimes discernible in Indian 

 birds, becomes tolerably well pronounced, especially in S. rosenhergi, 

 which is a large form of S. javanka, and is not allied to S. novce 

 hollandice. The same character divides Mr. Ridgway's /S. guutemalcB 

 from S. pratincoTa or S. flammea ; and this zigzag marking on the 

 breast is extremely developed in the St.-Domingo Barn-Owl {S.glau- 

 cops of Kaup). The Cuban and Jamaican bird is at first sight 

 remarkable, chiefly for its white tail ; but in this respect it resembles 

 British specimens, which, although matched by Erench birds, are 

 quite difterent from any I have as yet seen from Germany. Strioo 

 insidaris is a small dark form, supposed to be peculiar to the Cape- 

 Verd Islands, but approached by some Senegambia specimens. It ia 

 closely allied to the Galapagoan S. punctatissima. S. perlata from 

 South America is smaller than the North-American bird, and comes, 

 therefore, very close to the European ^.flammea. 



