WHITE OWL. 161 



but had no more than one brood in the year. The remarks 

 I have before made about the dispersion of birds are borne 

 out by his observation, that 'the old birds remained, but the 

 young ones seemed to leave the immediate neighbourhood;' 

 and again, in the list of the birds of Melbourne, Derbyshire, 

 by J. J. Briggs, Esq., he says, writing of this same species, 

 'hundreds of individuals have been reared in this spot, but 

 it is never occupied by more than one pair at the same time; 

 for no sooner is a brood fully fledged and able to maintain 

 itself, than a pair of the strongest drive the rest of the family 

 from the spot, and occupy it themselves.' 



The appearance of this Owl, owing to its somewhat wedge- 

 shaped face, is very singular, especially when asleep, as it is 

 then even more elongated. The whole plumage is beautifully 

 clean and pure. Old birds become more white. Male; weight, 

 about eleven ounces; length, about one foot one inch, or a 

 little more; bill, yellowish pink, yellow in the fully adult 

 bird, and almost white in old age; cere, flesh-coloured; iris, 

 deep brown, or bluish black: it is only opened a little 

 laterally during the day, but quite round at night; there is 

 a slight tinge of reddish brown round the inner corner of 

 the eye. Head, pale buff, thinly spotted with black and 

 white; the ends of the feathers are tinted with pale grey, 

 and the tips marked zigzag with dark purple and black and 

 white spots ; crown, delicately barred with waves of pale- 

 grey; and is darker or lighter in different individuals; neck, 

 pure silky white, sometimes tinged with delicate yellow or 

 buff, and small brown spots; the ruff the same, but often 

 marked on the upper part with yellowish or darkish tips; 

 sometimes the upper part and the lower alternate these 

 colours 'vice versa,' and sometimes it is yellowish all round; 

 nape, as the head. Chin, throat, and breast, as the neck; 

 back, as the head, but a shade darker: different specimens 

 have more or less buff and grey, 



The wings extend about half an inch beyond the tail, and 

 expand to the width of three feet or over; greater and 

 lesser wing coverts, beautifully spotted with white, like a 

 string of pearls; primaries, buff on the outer webs, paler on 

 the inner, edged with white, or altogether white, and barred 

 or spotted with alternate black and white, both freckled 

 over: beneath they are yellowish white; towards the ends the 

 dark bars shew faintly through; the second feather is the 

 longest, the first nearly as long; secondaries, pale buff, barred 



VOL. J. M 



