40 THE BIEDS OF OXFOEDSHIRE. 



often at the same time, or within a few minutes of each other. 

 The hoots are quite different and are easily distinguished, that 

 of the present species wanting- the first short sharj) lioo of the 

 Tawny Owl, and also the subsequent long-drawn tremulous 

 note, and is in fact a simple rather long ' Iiooooo,' the pitch 

 dropping gradually, and the note having something of a 

 wailing tone in it, Mr, A. H, Macpherson, having on 

 one occasion heard a hoot, saw a Barn Owl fly close past him; 

 and he kindly informs me that the note of this species 

 is nearly a semitone lower than that of the Brown Owl. 

 More than once I have heard hoots followed by a screech 

 proceeding from the same tree, from which a Bam Owl has 

 subsequently flown. It shoidd be stated that the Rev. A. 

 Matthews, who also enjoyed excellent opportunities of ob- 

 serving Owls at Weston-on-the-Green, held a contrary opinion 

 to that here expressed. (Cf. Zoologist^ 1849 and 1880.) 



Examples of the Barn Owl in which the white in the 

 plumage is unusually developed are not infrequently met 

 with. In May, 1883, I examined one with the tail pure white 

 with the exception of one or two small marks hardly percept- 

 ible ; the primaries exhibited a good deal of the same, while 

 that on the throat passed round each side of the neck, nearly 

 meeting on the nape. 



THE GREAT GREY SHRIKE. 



Lanius excuhitor. 



The Great Grey Shrike, in one or other of its forms, is a 

 winter visitor, but of very irreg'ular occurrence. 



The typical form may be distinguished at all ages by the 

 presence of two white spots on the closed wing (caused by the 

 white on the secondaries showing beyond the superincumbent 

 coverts) from that known as Pallas^ Shrike (L. major), in 

 which there is no white on the secondaries. The ranges of 

 these two sub-species overlap in northern Scandinavia, whence 



