56 Col. R. Meinertzhagen on Birds from [Ibis, 



arc never streaked with pure white, whereas UUth is invariably 

 streaked with pure white and brown. 



In winter glaux becomes white below, but never so wlnte 

 as lilith in the same plumage. 



8 c? J . -4. n. glaux from Egypt have wings 156-163 mm, 



5 5 ?. ,, „ „ 157-164 mm. 



9c?d". ,, from Palestine have wings 151-161 mm. 



7$$. „ „ „ „ 153-166 mm. 



A. n. glaux is an abundant resident in the Egyptian Delta, 

 but does not extend to the deserts east o£ the Suez Canal or 

 west of Alexandria. 



A. n. UUth occurs throughout Syria and Palestine from 

 Damascus, the Syrian Desert and Baalbek to Gaza and 

 Beersheba in southern Palestine. An Athene is a common 

 resident at Aleppo, but I failed to secure specimens. 



Athene noctua saharse (Kleinschmidt). 



A Little Owl which I shot at Solium in western Egypt 

 on 21. i. 20 proves to be of this race. In fresh autumn 

 plumage this subspecies is about the same tint as that of 

 UUlh in February or March, but is even whiter below and 

 generally a paler bird. Wing of my bird, a female, 155 mm. 



Strix aluco alnco L. 



On 26. ii. at Hebron during a blizzard I shot a Wood- 

 Owl, which was hooting loudly at noon. The bird was a 

 female with a wing of 264 mm. It was very grey, the whole 

 plumage being almost pure black and white. There is 

 nothing in the Tring Collection which approaches it, but 

 in the British Museum is a similarly coloured bird from 

 Inverness shot in May. 



Both Tristram (Survey Western Palestine) and Hartert 

 have pointed out the resemblance which Palestine birds have 

 to others from northern Africa [niauretanica\ but whereas 

 in the latter country the darker and greyer upper parts are 

 constant, in Palestine, S\ ria, and Asia Minor birds seem as 

 variable as others from Great Britain and the Continent. 



