DISTRIBUTION OP BARN-OWLS. 273 



of the eye. Total length 12 inches, wing 11 -5, tail 5-0, tarsus 2-2, middle toe 

 1 -05. This specimen is a typical example of the dark phase of the Enghsh bird. 



E. A female from Esher, in Surrey, presented by Mr. Bond and 

 supposed to be a Danish Barn-Owl, is very little darker than the foreo-oino- 

 Sarsden specimen, belonging, like that bird, to the dark phase of our 

 ordinary species, and not to be mistaken for the deeply coloured Owl of 

 Silesia ; it is, however, the darkest Enghsh-killed specimen I have yet 

 seen. The breast is thickly though minutely spotted with triangular dots 

 of brown, a little larger on the flanks ; ruff deep orange, with dark brown 

 tips to the lower feathers ; facial aspect greyish white, the feathers rufous 

 all round the eyes, inclining to dark brown in front of the latter ; wino-- 

 coverts and quills deep orange, very distinctly barred with grey ; tail deep 

 orange, with four distinct greyish bars, besides the greyish mottled tips ; 

 bands on quills four. Total length 125 inches, wing 120, tail 52, tarsus 

 2-2, middle toe 1-15. 



F. A very pale bird, from Epping, presented by Mr. H. Doubleday, 

 has the markings of the upper surface coarse and very light grey ; face 

 dusky greyish white, inclining to silvery white on the hinder margin, here 

 resembling the rufl^, which is also white, with a few tips of orange-buff ; 

 in front of the eye a patch of rufous feathers ; under surface of body pure 

 white, with a few tiny specks of brown on the side of the breast scarcely 

 visible ; primary-coverts rich orange, mottled only at the tip ; quills very 

 pale, with no distinct bars on the upper surface, but exhibiting here and 

 there irregular freckled vermiculations ; the lower surface of the wing per- 

 fectly uniform ; tail very light buff, inclining to white on the outer feathers ; 

 no complete bars on it anywhere, nothing but a few faint vermiculations 

 of brown, with a small irregularly shaped brown spot near the base of 

 many of the rectrices. Total length 13"5 inches, wing 12-1, tail 5-4, tarsus 

 2-3, middle toe 1-15. 



G. A bird from Combe Wood, obtained from Mr. Leadbeater, has the 

 wings and tail narrowly barred, the latter tipped with white and crossed with 



