WHITE, OR BARN OWL. 441 
bird would perch. From thenceforth they held it to be sacred, and 
every one wore a plume of the feathers of this’ species on his head. 
To this day the Kalmucs continue the custom on all great festivals; 
and some tribes have an idol in form of an owl, to which they fasten 
the real legs of one.” * . : 
This species is rarely found in Pennsylvania in summer. Of its 
place and manner of building, Iam unable, from my own observation, 
to speak. The bird itself has been several times found in the hollow 
of a tree, and was once caught in a barn in my neighborhood. Euro- 
pean writers inform us that it makes no nest, but deposits its eggs in 
the holes of walls, and lays five or six, of a whitish color; it is said to 
feed on mice and small birds, whith, like the most of its tribe, it 
swallows whole, and afégrwards emits the bones, feathers, and other 
indigestible parts, at its mouth, in the form of small round cakes, 
which are often found in the empty buildings it frequents. During its 
repose it is said to make a blowing noise resembling the snoring of a 
man.t : 
It is distinguished in England by various names, the Barn Owl, the 
Church Owl, Gillihowlet, and Screech Owl. In the lowlands of 
Scotland it is universally called the Hoolet. 
The White or Barn‘ Owl is fourteen inches long, and upwards of 
three feet six inches in extent; bill, a whitish horn color, longer than 
is usual among its tribe; space surrounding each eye, remarkably 
concave, the radiating feathers meeting in a high, projecting ridge, 
arching from the bill upwards; between these lies a thie tuft of 
bright tawny feathers, that are scarcely séen, unless the ridges be 
separated; face, white, surrounded by a border of narrow, thickset, 
velvety feathers, of a reddish cream color at the tip, pure silvery white 
below, and finely shafted with black; whole upper parts, a bright 
tawny yellow, thickly sprinkled with whitish and pale purple, and 
beautifully interspersed with larger drops of white, each feather of 
the back and wing-coverts ending in an oblong spot of white, bounded 
by black; head, large, tumid; sides of the neck, pale yellow ochre, 
thinly sprinkled with small touches of dusky ; primaries and seconda- 
ries, the same, thinly barred, and thickly sprinkled with dull purplish 
brown ; tail, two inches shorter than the tips of the wings, even, or 
very slightly forked, pale yellowish, crossed with five bars of brown, 
and thickly dotted with the same; whole lower parts, pure white, 
thinly interspersed with small round spots of blackish ;.thighs, the 
same; legs, long, thinly covered with short white down nearly to the 
feet, which are of a dirty white, and thickly warted; toes, thinly clad 
with white hairs; legs and feet, large and clumsy; the ridge, or 
shoulder of the wing, is tinged with bright orange brown. The aged 
bird is more white; in some, the spots of black on the breast are 
wanting, and the color below, a pale yellow; in others, a pure 
white. 
The female measures fifteen inches and a half in length, and three 
feet eight inches’ in extent; is much darker above; the lower parts 
tinged with tawny, and marked also with round spots of black. One 
of these was lately sent me, which was Shot on the border of the 
* Arctic Zoology, p. 235. + Bewicx, i. p. 90. 
