328 LAND-BIRDS AKD GAME-BIRDS 



I. STRIX 



(A) FLAMMEA (var. PRATINCOLA). (American) Earn Owl. 



(This bird has not recently occurred in Massachusetts more 

 than 'once or twice.) 



(a). "Tawny, or fulvous-brown, delicately clouded or mar- 

 bled with ashy and white, and speckled with brownish-black ; 

 below, a varying shade from nearly pure white to fulvous, with 

 sparse sharp blackish speckling ; face, white to purplish-brown, 

 darker or black about the e}'es, the disk bordered with dark 

 brown ; wings and tail barred with brown, and finely mottled 

 like the back; bill whitish; toes 3*ellowish. * * * * 9 17 

 long; wing 13; tail 5 ; < rather less. U. S., Atlantic to 

 Pacific, southerly ; rare in the interior, rarely N. to New Eng- 

 land." (Coues.) 



(b). "It is not uncommon in the vicinity of Washington, 

 and after the partial destruction of the Smithsonian Building 

 by fire, for one or two } T ears a pair nested on the top of the 

 tower." " Its nests have been found in hollow trees near 

 marshy meadows" (Brewer), and, in certain parts of the 

 country, the Barn Owls make burrows. The eggs average 

 1-70 X 1*30 of an inch, and are bluish or dirty (yellowish) 

 white. 



(c). The Barn Owls of America are much less well known 

 than those of Europe, and no longer occur in New England, if, 

 indeed, they ever have existed there except as stragglers. Mr. 

 Allen, in his " Notes on Some of the Rarer Birds of Massa- 

 chusetts," records the capture of one in this State, near Spring- 

 field, in May, and that of two others in Connecticut. The 

 Barn Owls are common in many places to the southward and 

 westward. Says Dr. Brewer : " The propensity of the Cali- 

 fornia bird to drink the sacred oil of the consecrated lamps 

 about the altars of the Missions was frequently referred to by 

 the priests, whenever any allusion was made to this Owl." 



Audubon says that " this species is altogether nocturnal or 

 crepuscular, and when disturbed during the day, flies in an ir- 

 regular bewildered manner, as if at loss how to look for a 



