DISTRIBUTION OF BARN-OWLS. 17 



regarded as more than a large dark race of the ordinary Austrahan S, novce 

 hollandicB, certain birds from the southern part of the continent being 

 intermediate to the island form. From S. delicatula, which it approaches in 

 some stages of plumage, its large size and powerful thinly plumed legs ought 

 to distinguish it, as well as the greater number of tail-bands. 



Mr. Ramsay writes (P. Z. S. 1875, p. 380):— "It is a very variable 

 species. I noticed in Mr. J. B. White's collection, obtained at Springsure, 

 a very dark-faced variety ; the facial disk was of a deep chestnut. Another, 

 shot at Dalrymple's Gap, on the coast-ranges, has the disk almost white, and 

 large spots on the under surface." I have also seen a dark-faced specimen 

 from Queensland in the fine collection formed by Mr. Cockerell, and now in 

 the possession of Mr. F. DuCane Godman ; so that the dark-visaged birds 

 occur equally in Northern and South-eastern Australia. Mr. Ramsay says that 

 the species is now common in the bushes of the coast-range of Queensland. 

 Two examples collected at Port Essington by Captain Chambers were 

 presented by him to the British Museum. 



Strix castanops. 



Hal, Tasmania. 



As above stated, I consider this to be only a race of the foregoing 

 species ; and it is quite certain that it has, like other Barn-Owls^ a lighter 

 and a darker phase. It is in the latter plumage that it looks most distinct ; 

 but in its light dress it cannot be told from certain continental skins. 

 How variable is the size of the Australian Barn- Owls can be judged from 

 the following series of measurements, which, in my opinion, place their 

 dimensions beyond the pale of a genuine specific character : — 



