STRIGIDaE — THE OWLS. 13 



toe, 1.30-1.40. Colors of vav. pratincola, but less of the ochraceous, with 

 a greater prevalence of the gray mottling. Tail with four dark bands. 

 Hah. Australia ......... var. d el i catula } 



Wing, 11.00-11.70; tail, 5.10-5.40; culmen, .85 -.90; tarsus, 2.30- 

 2.45; middle toe, 1.35-1.45. Same colors as var. delicatula. Tail with 

 four dark bands (sometimes a trace of a fifth). Hab. India and Eastern 

 Africa var, Javanica."^ 



Strix flammea, var. pratincola, Bonap. 



AMERICAN BARN OWL. 



Strix iJratincola, Boxap. List, 18;i8, p. 7. — De Kay, Zool. N. Y. II, 1844, 31, pi. xiii. 

 f. 28. —Gray, Gen. B., fol. .sp. 2. — Ca.ssin, B. Cal. & Tex. 1854, p. 176. — Newb. 

 P. R. Rep. VI, IV, 1857, 76. — Heerm. do. VII, 1857, 34. —Cass. Birds N. Am. 1858, 

 47. —CouES, Prod. Oni. Ariz. (P. A. N. S. Philad. 1866), 13. — ScL. P. Z. S. 1859, 

 390 (Oaxaca). — Dresser, Ibis, 1865, 330 (Texas). — ? Bryant, Pr. Bost. Soc. 1867, 65 

 (Bahamis). Sti-ix ixrJata, Gray, List Birds Brit. Mus. 1848, 109 (not .S'. pcrlata of 

 LiCHT. !). — Ib. Hand List, I, 1869, 52. — Kaup, Monog. Strig. Pr. Zool. Soc. Lond. 

 IV, 1859, 247. Strix anuricana, AuD. Syuop. 1839, 24. — Brewer, Wilson's Am. 

 Orn. 1852, 687. Strix flammea, Max. Reise Bras. II, 1820, 265. — Wils. Am. Orn. 

 1808, pL 1, f. 2. —James, ed. Wilson's Am. Orn. I, 1831, 111. — Aud. B. Am. 1831, 

 pi. clxxi. — Ib. Orn. Biog. II, 1831, 403. — Srix, Av. Bras. I, 21. — Vig. ZooL Jour. 

 Ill, 4.38. —I B. Zool. Beech. Voy. p. 16. — Bo.vap. Ann. N. Y. Lye. II, 38.— Ib. Isis, 

 1832, 1140; Consp. Av. p. 55. —Gray, List Birds Brit. Mus. 1844, 54. — Nutt. 

 Man. 1833, 139. Ulidaflamnua, Jardixe, ed. Wilson's Am. Orn. II, 1832, 264. Strix 

 flammea, var. americana, Coues, Key, 1872, 201. 



Char. Average plumage. Ground-color of the upper parts bright orange-ochra- 

 ceous ; this overlaid in cloudings, on nearly the whole of the surface, with a delicate 

 mottling of blackish and white ; the mottling continuous on the back and inner scapu- 

 lars, and on the ends of the primaries more faint, while along their edges it is more in 

 the form of fine dusky dots, thickly sprinkled. Each feather of the mottled surface 

 (excepting the secondaries and primaries) has a medial dash of black, enclosing a 

 roundish or cordate spot of white near the end of the feather ; on the secondaries and 

 primaries, the mottling is condensed into obsolete transverse bands, which are about four 

 in number on the former and five on the latter ; primary coverts deeper orange-rufous 

 than the other portions, the mottling principally at their ends. Tail oi'ange-ochraceous, 

 finely mottled — most densely terminally — with dusky, fading into whitish at the tip, 

 and crossed by about five distinct bands of mottled dusky. Face white, tinged with 

 wine-red; an ante-orbital spot of dark claret-brown, this narrowly surrounding the eye; 

 facial circle, from forehead down to the ears (behind which it is white for an inch or so) 

 soft orange-ochraceous, similar to the ground-color of the upper parts ; the lower half 

 (from ears across the throat) deeper ochraceous, the tips of the feathers blackish, flic 

 latter sometimes predominating. Lower parts snowy-white, but this more or less over- 



^ St7'ix flammea, var. delicatula. Strix delicatula, Gould, P. Z. S. 1836, 140. — Ib. B. 

 Australia, I, pi. xxxi. — Strickl. Orn. Syn. 1855, 180. Hab. Australia. 



^ Strix flammea, var. javanica. Strix javanica, Gmel. S. N. I, 295, 1789. — Lath. Ind. 

 Oi-n. p. 64, and Gen. Hist. I, 357. — Horsf. L. Trans. XIII, 139. — Gr.\y, Gen. B. fol. sp. 5, 

 pi. XV. — Sykes, p. Comm. Zool. Soc. pi. ii, 81. — Strickl. Orn. Syn. I, 1855, 180. P/wdilus 

 javanicus, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. Beng. XIX, 513. Strix flammea, Pears. & Blyth. Nab. 

 Java and Southern India, and Eastern Africa. 



