THE OWLS 



[ORDER: Coraciiformea. FAMILY: Strigidas] 

 PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 



[W. C. R. JOUBDAIN. W. f. PYCRAFT. A. L. THOMSON] 



BARN-OWL 1 [Strix ftdmmea Linnaeus ; Tyto alba alba (Scopoli).* White- 

 owl, screech-owl, jenny-howlet, church-owl, ullet or hullot. French, effraye ; 

 German, Schkiereule ; Italian, barbagianni]. 



I. Description. The barn-owl is distinguishable at once from all other 

 British owls by the orange-buff of the upper parts and the white under parts. 

 The sexes are alike. (PI. 80.) Length 13-5 in. [342-90 mm.]. The disc 

 feathers are white enlivened by a patch of rust-red around the eye, which is of 

 a dark brown, almost black colour ; the peripheral disc feathers are tipped with 

 buff. The orange-buff of the upper parts is variegated by dull white spots and 

 dusky vermiculations, giving a hoary appearance, especially on the back and wing- 

 coverte. The secondaries are of a paler buff transversely barred with grey, the inner- 

 most with grey vermiculations like the back. The primaries have faint grey bars 

 across the inner, and strongly marked oblique bars across the outer webs. The 

 outer tail feathers have buff outer and white inner webs, transversely barred with 

 narrow bands of dark grey ; the tips are white vermiculated with grey. The under 

 parts are white, tinged more or less markedly with buff on the breast, and spotted 

 with grey on the flanks. The lower part of the foot and toes is sparsely covered 

 with bristles, and the inner edge of the middle claw is serrate*!.: :'-^Jye daibj- 

 brown, nearly black. The nestling develops two generations of' wstlinjr- down.* 



*.* .;. .*" 



both of which are of the degenerate, umbelliform type, and white in colour. ' The 

 juvenile plumage is indistinguishable from that of the adult, [w. p. p.] 



1 Subepecifically : the whitebreauted barn-owl. See list on p. 808. 

 * See footnotes to the shorteared-owl and barn-owl. 



VOL. II. 3C 



746312 



