WHITE OR BARN OWL. 259 



being seen around and at the inner corners of the 

 eyes. The ruff, which is often marked on the upper 

 part with yellowish or dark tips, is quite uniform 

 in colour and unmarked. Upper parts pale ochra- 

 ceous yellow, delicately crossed on the crown, 

 back, shoulders, tips of the quills and secondaries, 

 with irregular wavy bars, each feather except the 

 quills having a small white spot surrounded with 

 black at the tips ; the quills are paler towards their 

 base, and are crossed with clouded bars of a deeper 

 ochraceous tint, mottled with gray ; inner surface 

 of the wings pure white and spotless. Tail is very 

 pale ochraceous, delicately mottled with blackish 

 gray. Tarsi are clothed with thick plumes at 

 the knees, which gradually become thinner and 

 shorter towards the feet, on which the feathering 

 appears as scattered bristly hairs. This bird we 

 consider as a very pale coloured specimen ; in the 

 common state of the plumage, the shades of the 

 colour are deeper, the markings bolder and more 

 decided, more reddish brown around the eyes, and 

 a tint of ochraceous around the ruff, and the bars 

 on the wings appear dull black on the lower side. 

 Length to extremity of the tail about thirteen 

 and a-half inches, the wings exceeding it about 

 half an inch. 



In the female, the colours are -rather duller, the 

 ochraceous colour often extending upon the lower 

 parts, particularly across the breast ; and the belly 



