BARN-OWL. 197 



second or even a third laying takes place before the first 

 family leaves the nest, so that Owlets of at least three dif- 

 ferent ages may be found in one nursery, while this contin- 

 uous succession at times goes on for some months, it being 

 probable that the warmth of the earlier birds materially aids 

 the development of the unhatched chicks, during the nightly 

 absence of the parents in quest of food, while their labour 

 in supporting so large a family must be more easily borne 

 by being spread over so long a period. The usual note of 

 this species is a loud scream, often uttered while on the 

 wing ; the young in the nest make a snoring noise. 



The Barn-Owl is common in all the counties of England ; 

 and, according to Thompson, is also the most common Owl 

 in Ireland. In Scotland its distribution is less wide, for 

 though common in the Lowlands and more southern parts of 

 the Highlands, it becomes rare towards the north. In the 

 Hebrides Mr. Gray has only been able to trace it in Mull 

 and Islay. Low states that it bred in Hoy, but it has not 

 recently been seen in the Orkneys, and there seems to be no 

 record of its appearance in the Shetlands or further to the 

 northward. It does not inhabit either Norway or Sweden, 

 but a single example is said to have occurred once at Ystad 

 in the extreme south of the latter. It is rare in Denmark, 

 and its distribution is limited to the mainland and some 

 only of the islands which form that kingdom. It is not 

 found in Finland. In North Germany it is a well-known 

 though not very common resident. Over the more temperate 

 part of the European continent it is generally diffused, and 

 its range extends eastward, as far at least as Mesopotamia, 

 whence there is a specimen in the East India Museum, and 

 southward to Quilimane on the east and to Angola on the 

 west coast of Africa — the late Dr. Dickerson having ob- 

 tained a specimen at the former and there being one from 

 the latter in the Lisbon Museum. It was also found 

 breeding in Madagascar by Mr. Edward Newton, and it 

 occurs in the Atlantic islands — the Azores and Madeira. 

 Whether it has not a further range in the Old World cannot 

 at present be determined, for authorities do not agree as to 



