BARN-OWL 403 



orange-tawny, stippled with brown, grey, and white ; the under-parts 

 white ; and the legs clothed with short feathers, which become almost 

 like hairs on the toes. In the much rarer dark phase the face-disk 

 shows a chestnut tinge, and the under surface is deep golden buff 

 spotted with blackish grey, while the back is darker than in the 

 ordinary form. Immature birds present no characteristics of colour 

 by which they can be distinguished from the adult. The long down 

 of the nestling is white, giving to the creature the appearance of a 

 powder-puff. 



On the assumption that all barn-owls are merely local races of a 

 single variable species, the distribution of the latter will include almost 

 all the temperate and tropical regions of the world. There are, how- 

 ever, certain peculiarities connected with this distribution worthy of 

 brief mention. In Europe, for instance, barn-owls are found so far 

 north as southern Scandinavia and the Baltic countries, whence they 

 extend to the central districts of Russia ; but for some unexplained 

 reason they appear to be absent from the whole of northern Asia, 

 inclusive of Siberia, as they are from China. They reappear, however, in 

 India, the north of Ceylon, and Burma, whence they extend southwards 

 to Oceania and Australasia, although in a slightly modified form, and 

 they are to be met in suitable localities throughout Africa and the 

 greater part of America. 



With such an enormous range, the barn-owl must of necessity 

 exhibit great diversity in its times of breeding ; and whereas in Great 

 Britain the nesting-season lasts from the end of April to July, in the 

 north of India it occurs from February to June, and in peninsular 

 India from November to January. In Europe it frequently happens 

 that a second, and even a third, clutch of eggs is laid while the original 

 brood is still in the nest ; the presence of the latter probably aiding 

 the incubation of the second batch of eggs when the parent-bird is hunting 

 for prey. The commencement of the laying-season in Europe is later 

 than that of most owls ; and a second peculiarity of the species is to 

 be found in the relatively elongated form of the eggs ; their average 

 dimensions being about 1.69 by 1.28 inches. 



The species takes its ordinary name from its habit of frequenting 

 barns, church-towers, ruins, and such-like buildings, where it passes the 

 daytime in a slumbering condition, with closed eyes, uttering when dis- 

 turbed a loud hiss. With the shades of evening the barn-owl w^akes 

 up, and commences its flight in search of food, which consists almost 

 entirel}' of rats, mice, and field-mice ; it is therefore eminently a bird 

 which should receive all possible protection at the hands of man. But 



