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and spotted with black and greyish white ; wings and tail much darker, and more boldly barred than 

 in the pale form above described ; facial disk white, tinged with orange, the space round the eye, 

 especially on the inner side, blackish; underparts warm orange-buff, marked with clearly defined 

 blackish grey spots. 



Obs. The young bird is at first covered with white down, from which they pass into the first feather dress, 

 which scarcely, if at all, differs from that of the adult. One young bird from Altenkirchen, in my 

 collection, is half feathered, the new plumage being that of the pale form above described. 



Subject to some variation, the Barn-Owl is one of the most widely distributed of our European 

 Raptores ; for it is a resident in most parts of Europe from Southern Scandinavia down to the 

 Ethiopian Region, in which latter it is also found as far as South Africa. In Asia the Barn-Owl 

 occurs throughout India to Burmah, and south to Australia ; but it does not appear to inhabit 

 China or Japan. In America the Barn-Owl ranges from the New-England States far down in 

 South America. Here, again, we have, in the present species, a bird that varies so greatly that 

 it becomes a question whether all the allied forms can be united, or whether it would be more 

 advisable to keep them specifically separated. Mr. Ridgway, Dr. Coues, Professor Schlegel, and 

 Mr. Sharpe, as well as several other naturalists, have so fully worked out the geographical range 

 and variations to which this bird is subject, that my task is comparatively an easy one; and I 

 may add that I have quite independently arrived at the same conclusion as my friend Mr. Sharpe, 

 and have decided to unite all the closely allied forms ; for I fully agree with what Mr. Sharpe 

 writes in his British-Museum ' Catalogue ' (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. ii. p. 294), viz. : — " It will be 

 seen from the above synonymy that I have united nearly all the Barn-Owls of the world under 

 the one heading of Stria; flammea. It is seldom that an opportunity is afforded to the orni- 

 thologist of examining such a fine series of birds as has been permitted to me in the case of the 

 Barn-Owls ; and it would be difficult to find a more comprehensive collection than at present 

 exists in the British Museum. Every single variation of the ordinary type has been examined 

 by me ; and I have had in all cases one or two specimens of the rarer or more obscure forms on 

 which to found my conclusions. Mr. G. R. Gray, in the ' Hand-list,' has recognized no less than 

 twelve species ; but a very short study will suffice to show that not one half of these species can 

 be maintained. Mr. Ridgway also separates the Barn-Owls into different races; and he considers 

 that seven can be differentiated. The first of these is Strix flammea, inhabiting Europe and the 

 Mediterranean region of Africa. In America it is represented by Strix pratincola, the habitat 

 of which is Mexico and Southern North America, the only character given by Mr. Ridgway 

 being, however, its larger size. A difference of an inch and a half in the wing is the extreme 

 variation that I can find, this measuring in European examples from 11 to 12- 4 inches, in 

 American ones from 12-9 to 13-7 inches. The latter have the tarsus measuring 2-65 to 3-01 

 inches against 2*2 to 2*5 inches in the European. The colour of the American bird is darker ; 

 and the dark phase, which is rarer in the Old-World birds, seems to be the permanent form in 

 the New World. Indian Barn-Owls are rather darker than European, and clearer grey above, 

 in the latter respect becoming more like the Australian Strix delicatula, whose pearly grey 

 colour has been its chief specific character ; sometimes, however, Australian examples are not 

 to be distinguished from European: wing, in the latter, 10-8 to 11-3 inches, tarsus 2-4 to 26. 



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