136 STRIGID A. 
warmth of the young birds ; a third laying took place after 
the latter were hatched, and the nest at last contained six 
young Owls of three different ages, which were all reared.” 
I have frequently been told by boys in the country that 
they had found eggs and young birds at the same time in 
the nest of the Barn Owl. The young, covered with a 
thick white down, remain in the nest a long time, and the 
first set of feathers, which, Mr. Blyth says, are not moulted 
till the second autumn, grow very slowly. 
The Barn Owl screeches, but does not generally hoot. 
The Barn Owl is common in most, if not in all the coun- 
ties of England ; and, according to Mr. Thompson, it is 
also the most common Owl in Ireland. In Scotland it is 
less numerous, and this species appears to decrease in num- 
bers as we proceed northward. A few are found in some 
of the Orkney Islands; Muller includes it among the birds 
of Denmark ; but it does not appear to inhabit Sweden or 
Norway. Over the more temperate part of the European 
continent it is generally diffused, and its range southward 
extends in Africa even to the Cape of Good Hope. Sir 
William Jardine has received specimens from Madeira. 
According to M. Temminck and others, this bird also in- 
habits India and Japan. In North America our Barn Owl 
is found in the United States; but it is more thinly dif- 
fused, and it does not appear to visit the fur-countries of 
the North. The Yellow Owl of South America is con- 
sidered to be a distinct species. 
In an old male the beak is almost white ; irides bluish 
black ; facial disk stained with rust colour at the inner and 
lower part of each eye, the margin of the disk defined by 
the white feathers being tipped with brown; top of the 
head and the neck very pale buff, thinly spotted with black 
and white; back and wings darker buff speckled with grey, 
