THE WHITE OR BARN OWL. 59 
Nycrea, Stephens.—Facial disk incomplete. Legs and toes thickly covered 
with feathers. 
SURNIA, Duméril—Facial disk nearly obsolete. Legs short and with the toes 
thickly feathered. Tail long and graduated. 
Scoprs, Savigny.—Facial disk incomplete above the eyes. Head with two tufts 
of feathers. Legs rather long, feathered in front; toes naked. Of 
small size. 
Buso, Duméril—Facial disk incomplete about the eyes. Head with two tufts 
of feathers. Legs and toes covered with feathers. Of large size. 
Family—S TRIGIDA. 
WHITE oR BaRN OWL. 
Striv flammcea, LINN. 
HIS beautiful Owl ranges throughout the world in the tropical and temperate 
zones. It is not found in the north, and in the British Isles becomes scarce 
in Scotland. It resides with us throughout the year, but some of our home-bred 
Owls may leave us for the south in the winter, at which time we also receive an 
immigration from the Continent, as is proved by the dead bodies of Barn Owls 
having been found hanging frozen in the nets stretched along the sands in the 
South-eastern counties to capture passing flocks of ducks and waders. 
The Barn Owl varies greatly in size and in colour in different parts of the world; 
all the foreign varieties are now regarded as only local races of our English bird. 
Even in England great variations are met with from the typical form, including 
light and dark birds, and those intermediate in colour. The plumage of the 
ordinary type is flame-yellow on the upper parts, speckled with grey, and with 
spots of white and black; the primaries are indistinctly barred with dusky brown, 
