380 THE OWLS 



2. Distribution. The barn or white-owl is a cosmopolitan species, for some 

 form or other of this widely distributed bird may be found resident locally throughout 

 the greater part of Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia, in districts suited 

 to its habits. The white-breasted form, which is resident with us, is in Dr. Hartert's 

 opinion also met with in the west of the European continent, in Western France, 

 the Iberian Peninsula, Morocco, and Algeria, as well as in the Mediterranean basin 

 south of the Alpine system. Other authorities, such as Kleinschmidt, separate the 

 British, Spanish, Sardinian, and Italian forms subspecifically. In Great Britain it 

 is tolerably general in England, except where shot or trapped down by ignorant 

 keepers and others, and often manages to survive in thickly populated manufacturing 

 districts, where there is no game preservation. In Wales it is scarce, and in Northern 

 Scotland it is very local and scarce, but is known to breed as far north as Caithness, 

 and also in Skye and some of the Inner Hebrides. In Ireland it is also resident, 

 but not numerous. [F. c. B. J.] 



3. Migration. Resident, and probably stationary. There is little evidence 

 of any migration, but there may possibly be a partial southward movement within 

 our area in autumn, seeing that the bird has been thought by some to become 

 more numerous in parts of the south of England during the winter months (cf . Boyd 

 Alexander, cited by Ticehurst, B. of Kent, 1909, p. 249). The autumn immigrants 

 from overseas belong to the Central European form. [A. L. T.] 



4. Nest and Eggs. Strictly speaking, no nest is made by this bird, which 

 breeds in some dark recess in a building, such as a church tower, old barn or farm 

 building, and occasionally in a dovecot. It also resorts at times to deep holes in 

 trees, and crevices in rocks or caves. (PL xxxiv.) Exceptional cases have been 

 recorded of breeding in corn-ricks, and old nests of jackdaw and stock-dove (Zoologist, 

 1905, pp. 34 and 71). As the same hole is often occupied for many years consecu- 

 tively, great quantities of pellets are often found within it. The number of eggs 

 varies as a rule from 4 to 6, less commonly 7 or 8, and 10-11 have been occasionally 

 recorded. In many cases they are laid in pairs at considerable intervals, so that 

 fresh eggs, incubated eggs, and young may be found in the same hole. This is by 



;:no means; ijiy&rjably the case, for I have taken 6 eggs, none of which showed more 

 than the 'slightest traces of incubation, and also found 6 young, in the nest of 

 &pj>foximafcety 'the same stage of development, and the Rev. M. A. Mathew records 

 a clutch of 10 eggs, all fresh. In shape they are somewhat elongated, pure white 

 in colour, without the gloss so apparent on pigeons' eggs. (PL E*.) Average size 

 of 47 British eggs, 1-59 x 1-25 in. [40'4 x 31'7 mm.]. As a rule the eggs are not laid 



