284 ON THE GEOGRAPHICAL 



Dresser, Ibis, 1875, p. 111). " It is rare and may be sedentary in the above 

 district, and is met with sporadically on the Chatir-kul and in the mountains 

 near the Aris river." 



Ethiopian Region. 



Egypt. Mr. Stafford Allen states that it is a resident bird in Egypt 

 (Ibis, 1864, p. 236), and it was found breeding in that country by Mr. E. C. 

 Taylor (Ibis, 1867, p. 55). Captain Shelley (B. Egypt, p. 176) writes : — 

 " This species is frequently to be met with throughout Egypt and Nubia, 

 generally in thick-foliaged trees or in ruins." He describes an Egyptian 

 skin as being white below, slightly tinted wdth buff. 



X. An Egyptian skin, presented to the British Museum many years ago 

 by Mr. Turnbull, is an ordinary bird of the light-plumaged type, the disk 

 being white, with a rufous shade in front of the eye ; the ruff pale orange, 

 the lower feathers tipped with brown, more broadly on the gular plumes ; 

 breast white, tinged with orange on the chest, and everywhere minutely 

 spotted with brown, these spots forming a longitudinal streak on some of the 

 feathers ; five bands on the quills, very indistinct on the outer web ; tail with 

 five bands. Total length 125 inches, wing 12' 1, tail 5'1, tarsus 24. 



Arabia. Von Heuglin (J. f. O. 1863, p. 14) mentions the Barn-Owl as 

 an inhabitant of this country ; and the British Museum possesses a specimen 

 caught in the Red Sea, near Aden. 



Y. It is a curious-looking bird, remarkable for the yellow tone of its 

 plumage, indicating probably that the ordinary Barn-Owl of Arabia is a 

 peculiar desert form. The mottlings and spots on the upper surface are very 

 scanty ; under surface of body white, with a few tiny spots or streaks of 

 brown ; quills with remains of four bars ; bars on tail four ; wings very deep 

 orange, the markings everywhere very few and apparently dissolving. Total 

 length 13 inches, wing 11*4, tail 5 1, tarsus 255. 



