WHITE OWD. 161 
but had no more than one brood in the year. The remarks 
I have before made about the dispersion of birds are borne 
out by his observation, that ‘the old birds remained, but the 
young ones seemed to leave the immediate neighbourhood;’ 
and again, in the list of the birds of Melbourne, Derbyshire, 
by J. J. Briggs, Esq., he says, writing of this same specics, 
‘hundreds of individuals have been reared in this spot, but 
it is never occupied by more than one pair at the same time; 
for no sooner is a brood fully fledged and able to maintain 
itself, than a pair of the strongest drive the rest of the family 
from the spot, and occupy it themselves.’ 
The appearance of this Owl, owing to its somewhat wedge- 
shaped face, is very singular, especially when asleep, as it is 
then even more elongated. The whole plumage is beautifully 
clean and pure. Old birds become more white. Male; weight, 
about eleven ounces; length, about one foot one inch, or a 
little more; bill, yellowish pmk, yellow in the fully adult 
bird, and almost white in old age; cere, flesh-coloured; iris, 
deep brown, or bluish black: 16 is only opened a little 
laterally during the day, but quite round at night; there is 
a slight tinge of reddish brown round the inner corner of 
the eye. Head, pale buff, thinly spotted with black and 
white; the ends of the feathers are tinted with pale grey, 
and the tips marked zigzag with dark purple and black and 
white spots; crown, delicately barred with waves of pale 
grey; and is darker or lighter in different individuals; neck, 
pure silky white, sometimes tinged with delicate yellow or 
buff, and small brown spots; the ruff the same, but often 
marked on the upper part with yellowish or darkish tips; 
sometimes the upper part and the lower alternate these 
colours ‘vicé versa,’ and sometimes it is yellowish all round; 
nape, as the head. Chin, throat, and breast, as the neck; 
back, as the head, but a shade darker: different specimens 
have more or less buff and grey. 
The wings extend about half an inch beyond the tail, and 
expand to the width of three feet or over; greater and 
lesser wing coverts, beautifully spotted with white, like a 
string of pearls; primaries, buif on the outer webs, paler on 
the inner, edged with white, or altogether white, and barred 
or spotted with alternate black and white, both freckled 
over: beneath they are yellowish white; towards the ends the 
dark bars shew faintly through; the second feather is the 
longest, the first nearly as long; secondaries, pale buff, barred 
3? 
VOL, I. M 
