ACCIPITRES — STRIGIDiE-STRIX. 
31 
GENUS STRIX. 
Upper mandible with its dorsal outline straight to the cere. Ear-openings large, semicircular ; 
operculum larger than the aperture, and fringed with feathers. No tufts. Tarsus long, 
feathered, scaly beneath. Toes with tuberculated scales intermixed with bristles, and 
three broad scutellae at the end. Wings long, ample ; first quill with the filaments recurved. 
Tail moderate, nearly even. 
THE AMERICAN BARN OWL 
Strix pratincola. 
PLATE XIII. FIG. 28. 
White or Barn Owl. Wilson, Am. Orn. Vol. 6, p. 57, pi. 50, fig. 2. 
StrixJlammea. Bonap. Ann. Lyc. N. Y. Vol. 2, p. 38. 
Barn Owl. Nuttall, Manual Orn. Vol. 1. p. 139. Aud. folio pi. 171; Orn. Biog. Vol. 2, p. 403 ; Vol. 5, p. 388. 
Strix jpratincola. Bonap. Comp, nnd Geog. List, p. 6. 
&. americana. Audubon, Synopsis, p. 25; B. of A. Vol. 1, p. 127, pi. 34 (male and female). 
Characteristics. Dark tawny above, spotted with white. Tail and wings barred with 
black ; the latter extending beyond the tail. Beneath whitish, dotted 
with black. Length, 16 inches. 
Description. Aperture of the ear very large ; the feathers margining the operculum 
reduced to their tubes, the shafts and webs not developed. Legs long, thickly feathered, 
becoming like bristles on the toes. Tail nearly even, two inches shorter than the wings. 
Color. Above tawny yellow, minutely varied with wdiite and brown ; and with oblong 
spots of dark brown, forming parallel series resembling bars, on the wings. Beneath, pure 
white or greyish, abundantly dotted with black. Tail tawny, with three or more narrow 
bars of blackish brown. Facial disk whitish, surrounded by a circle or ruff of rufous brown. 
Leg-feathers whitish, faintly pointed with dusky. 
Length, 14'0-18'0. Alar extent, 42'0-46‘0. 
The large white or Barn Owl, although it appears to be common in the neighborhood 
of Philadelphia, is rare in this State. I have never seen but one specimen, and that was 
brought here about ten years since from Cuba, where it is said to winter. Richardson (Sixth 
Report of the British Association) states it to be found as far as 44° north latitude, so that we 
may expect to find it in this State. It is, however, strictly a southern species, occurring as 
far south as Brazil. It is nocturnal, feeding on field mice, shrew moles, etc. 
This species was first suspected to be distinct from the European Jlammea, by Audubon 
in his Ornithological Biography; but he refrained from giving it a distinct name, until he 
was anticipated by the Prince of Canino. This is to be regretted, as the name which the 
former proposed, but which can not be adopted, is more appropriate and distinctive thaq 
the classical epithet given by Bonaparte. 
