ALUCO. 147 
6°. Underparts with the broad longitudinal streaks generally far 
more conspicuous than the narrow transverse bars, which 
are sometimes obsolete ; ear-tufts very conspicuous. 
a Wine over 12 inches, i... tube there baa w+ Buso. 
b®, Wing never exceeding 9 inches ........00ceseceeees Scoprs. 
Genus ALUCO. 
The Barn-Owl has been knocked about by modern ornithologists from 
genus to genus until it can scarcely find rest for the sole of its foot. 
Sharpe (Ibis, 1875, p. 324) evolves an elaborate argument to prove that it 
is the type of the Linnean genus Strix; whilst Newton (Ibis, 1876, p. 94) 
gives excellent reasons (if his premisses are true) why it should be placed in 
the genus Aluco. Iam unable to accept Newton’s premisses, as I cannot, 
for the reasons stated im the remarks on the genus Strix, admit that 
Brisson made a genus of Owls additional to that of Linnzus ; but I accept 
his conclusions on the ground that in 1767 Gerini, in his ‘ Ornithologia 
Methodice Digesta,’ i. p. 88, founded the genus Aluco for the Barn and 
Snowy Owls; the latter of which was removed in 1826 by Stephens to a 
genus of its own, leaving the Barn-Owl the type of Aluco. 
The Barn-Owls belong the group of Owls having large ear-openings 
protected by an operculum, but are isolated from all the other genera of 
Owls by the absence of clefts to the hinder margin of the sternum. 
They form a somewhat aberrant division of the Strigide, and may be at 
once distinguished from all other birds of this family by the serrated or 
toothed margin to the middle claw. Their facial disk is also more elon- 
gated. The bright orange-buff of various shades of their upper, and the 
silky whiteness of their under plumage is also another characteristic 
peculiar to them. The wings are very long and ample, but the tail is 
somewhat short. 
The Barn-Owls are an essentially tropical genus, being found in the 
tropics of both hemispheres, and only in Western Europe extending much 
more than forty degrees from the equator. They are all very nearly allied, 
but are usually divided into five or six species, some of which are again 
subdivisible into several subspecies, varieties, or local races. The British 
species is the only one found in Europe. 
Like most other Owls, the Barn-Owls are principally nocturnal in their 
habits, seeking their prey on the wing. Their plumage is extremely soft, 
and their flight almost noiseless, enabling them to drop unawares on little 
birds and small mammals, the latter forming their principal food. They 
also feed on insects and occasionally fish. They are only migratory in the 
northern limits of their range. They breed in holes, and lay pure white eggs. 
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