14 Dr. H. H. Giglioli — The strange 



The following are the measurements he took on these two 

 specimens when in the flesh : — 



Total length 



Tail 



Wins 



The smaller size of the female is unusual in these Owls : 

 for although the sexes do not differ much in size, the female 

 is slightly the larger ; this one is smaller than the average 

 A. noctua. The two parent birds in no way resemble their 

 black-eyed offspring, and at the same time they each differ 

 in different ways from the average A. noctua, from which, 

 however, they cannot be considered distinct, as I have 

 already remarked. 



I have not seen a specimen of A. chiaradice in down, but 

 from Mr. Vallon's description it is very different Irom the 

 nestling of the ordinary Civetta ; besides having dark brown 

 eyes, the down is whiter on the back and on the lower parts, 

 and the nascent feathers are much darker, shewing no 

 rufous tinge. 



And now that I have given the up-to-date history, complete 

 so far as possible, of this strange case, it is time to sum up 

 the ascertained facts, and draw therefrom what conclusions 

 may appear plausible. The facts are briefly these: — 



a. July 1899. — Four nestlings of Athene takea from the 

 nest in a loose stone wall at Pizzocco, all said to have had 

 black eyes. One at least certainly had them of that colour; 

 it became the type of A. chiaradice. 



b. July 1900. — No specimens of the black-eyed Civetta 

 seen at and about Pizzocco. 



c. 1th July, 1901. — A nestling A. chiaradice captured in 

 the nest in a hole in a cliff at Pizzocco, not far from where the 

 first was got, but with it were three co-nestlings undoubtedly 

 belonging to the common A. noctua. 



n. August 1901. — A small OwPs nest found in the belfry 

 of the church of the village of Fregona in the adjoining pro- 

 vince of Belluno, in which were two ordinary nestlings of 



