376 ALUCO STRIDULUS. 



this state individuals are, as might be expected, much 

 more uncommon. 



4 



Remarks. — This species, like many others, has been 

 described as several. Willughby gives a good ac- 

 count of it under the name of " Strix Aldrovandi, An- 

 glice the Common Brown or Ivy Owl." Then, in its 

 grey dress, he describes it as " Strix cinerea, the Grey 

 Owl ; " and again as Ulula Aldrovandi, the Grey OvvL 

 Linnaeus gives the grey bird, which however he de- 

 scribes as ferruginous, under the name of Strix Aluco, 

 the red under tliat of Strix stridula. Latham's Strix 

 stridula is the brown, his Aluco the grey, but he doubts 

 if the two be distinct. Montagu, an observer of birds, 

 and not merely a closet ornithologist, and describer of 

 skins, is certain that the brown owl, or grey-colonred, 

 is the same as the tawny owl, or brown bird. He 

 states that he has killed both from the same nest, and 

 considers the tawny or reddish-brown bird as the ordi- 

 nary state, the grey the variety. " The young birds 

 are also some tawny, others brown." In describing 

 the tawny owl, he states that " the plumage of the 

 sexes is exactly alike, but the female is most common- 

 ly less tawny, in which state it has been made a dis- 

 tinct species.*' M. Temminck considers the grey bird 

 to be the old male, the brown or ferruginous birds the 

 female and young of both sexes ; and his successors 

 generally follow him, always endeavouring to keep free 

 of inconsistency while they have evidently no decided 

 views on the subject. For my part, I have learned 

 from observation that the ferruginous or brown birds 

 are both male and female, and that the voung in the 



