568 Letters, Ewtracts, mid Notes. [Ibis, 



plumage before acquiring feathers -nliich are exactly like 

 those of the adult. The first is a shortish buffisli-white 

 down. According to Mr. Bonhote, this is followed by a 

 long down. I find, on the other hand, by examination of 

 specimens (in the Brit. Mus. and at Tring) that the first 

 down is immediately succeeded by the juvenile plumage 

 which Mr. Bonhote calls " (3) a downy feather." The 

 specimens in the British Museum clearly show the shortish 

 white down attached to the tips of these downy feathers. 

 I venture to suggest that Mr. Bonhote lias confused this 

 plumage in its early stages of growth on the living bird 

 with a down. As I have already stated (' Practical Hand- 

 book,' vol. ii. pp. 78-79)j it is of a very loose and downy 

 nature, and this is especially noticeable on the rump and 

 belly. There is considerable variation in the structure of 

 the juvenile feathers of the Owls. Mr. Meade-Waldo in 

 his letter [antea, p. 348) refers to the Scops Owl as having 

 no intermediate down between the first and the feather 

 plumage, and compares it with the Barn-Owl, but this 

 comparison is confusing and not correct. The juvenile 

 plumage of the Scops Owl is more compact than that of 

 other British Owls, but it differs from that of the adult, and 

 is a true juvenile plumage. The juvenile plumage of the 

 Hawk-Owl is very little less compact, while that of the 

 Eagie-Owl represents the other extreme, being looser and 

 more down-like even than that oi: the Snowy Owl. The 

 first feathers of the Barn-Owl, on the other hand, are 

 exactly like those of the adult, and I consider that the 

 second nestling down of this species is equivalent in genera- 

 tion to the downy juvenile plumage of other Owls, which 

 have only one nestling down. 



H. F, Withe RBY. 

 Ilampstead, 

 Juue 12, 1921. 



