ACCIPITRES. 



STRIGES. 



STRIGID.E. 



Geuus STEIX. 



Hinder margin of sternum entire, with no distinct clefts; furcula joined to keel of sternum. 



Head smooth. Bill straight at the base, compressed, feeble, with the tip much curved. 

 Nostrils large, oval, and oblique. Facial disk complete and entirely surrounded by a ruff of stiff 

 feathers. Wings long in comparison to the tail, pointed, with the 2nd quill the longest, and the 

 1st subequal to the 3rd. Tail eveu. Legs long; the lower part of tarsi clothed, as the toes, 

 with bristles. Toes long and scutellate above ; claws much curved, the inner edge of the middle 

 serrated. 



STEIX FLAMMEA. 



(THE BARN-OWL.) 



strixflammea, Linn. S. N. i. p. 133 (1766) ; Gould, B. of Eur. i. pi. 36 ; Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. 

 A. S. B. p. 41 (1849) ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 81 (1854) ; Schlegel, 

 Yog. Nederl. pi. 41 (1854); id. Mus. P.-B. Striges, p. 1; Gould, B. of Gt. Brit. i. 

 pi. 18; Sharpe, Cat. Birds, ii. p. 291 (1875) ; id. in Rowley's Orn. Miscellany, pt. viii. 



Strix javanica, Gm. S. N. i. p. 295 ; Jerd. Madr. Journ. x. p. 85 ; Blyth, J. A. S. B. xix. 

 p. 513 ; Horsf. & Moore, Cat. B. Mus. E. I. Co. i. p. 82 ; Jerd. B. of Ind. i. p. 117 ; 

 Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. p. 59; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. p. 116; Layard, Ann. 

 & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1853, xii. p. 107. 



Strix indica, Blyth, Ibis, 1860, p. 251 ; Hume, Rough Notes, ii. p. 342 ; Gould, B. of Asia, 

 pt. xxiv. ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 415 ; Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 163, et 1875, p. 37. 



The White Owl, Albin ; Le petit Chat-huant (Brisson) ; L'Effraye, Buffon ; The Screech- 

 Owl ; The India// Screech-Owl (J ei 'don). Lechuzo, Spanish. 



Karaya, Karail, Hind., also JBuri-churi, lit. "bad bird;" Chaao pitta, Tel. ; Chaao kuravi, 

 Tam. (Jerdon) ; Daris, Java (Horsf.); SerraJc, Malays (Horsf.). 



Adult male and female. Length to front of cere 13-8 to 14 - inches ; culmen from cere I/O; wing 11-4 to 11*7; tail 

 4-3 to 4-7; tarsus 2-4 to 2-6 : mid toe 13 to 1-4, its claw (straight) 0-75 to 0-83. 



Obs. The above measurements correspond fairly with those of Indian and Burmese birds, and are taken from a series 

 of specimens. The measurements of six examples from the above localities are : — Total length 14-0 to 14-8 inches ; 

 wing 11-0 to 11-8 ; tarsus 2-5 to 2 - 75. The expanse of Indian birds, according to dimensions contained in ' Stray 

 Feathers,' varies from 38 - to 39-7. 



Iris black ; bill fleshy white ; cere flesh-colour ; bare portion of tarsi and feet fleshy brown ; claws brown. 



General hue of upper surface, including the tail and wiugs, rich tawny buff, the visible portions of the feathers 

 profusely and finely stippled with whitish and dusky grey, and each with a terminal white spot, " pointed " 

 above with blackish brown ; on the head and hind neck the white portion of the spot is inconspicuous, and the 

 dark very much reduced in size ; on the rump, tertials, and quills the tijipings are more extensive than elsewhere ; 

 edge of the wing and outer web of the first winglet-f eather white ; inner webs of the primaries and secondaries 



