7i8 



PATAGONIAN EXPEDITIONS : ZOOLOGY. 



There does not appear at the present time material available on which 



to base descriptions of immature birds, or nestlings ; young birds of the 



year after moulting the first plumage, ten weeks after assuming it, at which 



time all the feathers except the quills and rectrices are renewed, look much 



like adults. 



Fig. 368. 



-■o 



Tyto pcrlata. Details of claws. Twice natural size. 



Geographical Range. — Wooded region of Patagonia and Chili except at 

 high altitudes. (The race of small white barn-owls of this region is 

 nearer in size and in the color of the light phase of plumage to the 

 European form than are other American forms, even those near at hand. 

 The foregoing is, so far as we know, the present range.) 



The Barn Owl as found in Patagonia is an uncommon bird. The 

 Princeton naturalists were fortunate to meet with it ; but they found the 

 birds only in the region at the head waters of the Rio Chico de Santa Cruz, 

 and even here only two individuals were secured. As indicated above 

 these two birds in appearance and measurements appear to be indistin- 

 guishable from the bird as it occurs in England. The birds are alike in 

 size with their European relatives and, so far as the light phase of plumage 

 is concerned, not to be separated by color. So far, no dark plumage birds 

 have been brought to light from this part of South America. Birds from 

 the vicinity of Buenos Aires, five specimens all in the light plumage, are 

 very like the two Patagonian individuals, but they average much larger, 

 nearly an inch, both sexes being represented. All the birds from the 

 La Plata region are light colored ; Mr. Barrows found the birds common 

 and breeding at Concepcion in Lower Uruguay, but he does not refer to 

 any birds in the dark phase of plumage. 



