( II ) 



The common Barn-Owl^ or White-Owl Aluco minor. 



Numb. XL 



IT S Weight was nine Ounces and an half 5 Length from the Point of the Beak to 

 the End of the Tail fifteen Inches i Breadth, when the Wings were extended, three 

 Feet ; the Bill white, hooked at the End, an Inch long ; the Tongue divided at the 

 Tip ; the Noftrils oblong, a Circle or Wreath of white, foft, downy Feathers en- 

 compaffed with yellow ones, beginning from the Noftrils on each Side, paffed round 

 the Eyes and under the Chin, fomewhat refembling a Hood, fo that the Eyes were 

 funk in the middle of thefe Feathers, as it were in the Bottom of a Pit or Valley ; 

 at the interiour Angle of each Eye, the lower Parts of thefe Feathers were of a tawny 

 Colour 5 the Ears were covered with a Valve, which ariles near the Eye and falls 

 backwards; the interiour Circle we mentioned of white downy Feathers pafled juft 

 over this Valve, fo that Part of them grow out of it. 



The Breaft, Belly, and covert Feathers of the inlide of the Wings were white, 

 marked with a few quadrangular dark Spots : The Head, Neck, and Back, as far as the 

 prime Feathers of the Wings, varioufly and of all Night-Birds moft elegantly coloured, 

 the Feathers towards the Tips were waved with fmall whitifh and blackifli Lines, re- 

 fembling a grey Colour; but about the Shafts of each Feather there was as it were a 

 Bed or Row of black and white Spots, iituate longways, made up in fome of two 

 white and two black Spots, in fome of three of each Colour, in fome of but one, 

 or elfe the whole Plumage was of a dilute tawny or orange Colour, which fame 

 Colour was alfo the Ground in the Wings and Tail. 



The Mafter-Feathers in each Wing were in Number twenty four, whereof the 

 greater have four tranfverfe blackilh Bars. [In thefe Bars in the exteriour Vane of the 

 Feather there is alfo a White mingled with the Black, which makes an Appearance 

 of a grey Spot,] the intermediate Spaces are fulvous, and powder'd with fmall black 

 Specks; the Tips of thefe Feathers incline more to an Afli-Colour; the Wings when 

 fhut up extend full as far as the Tail End ; in the exteriour Vanes of the firft or 

 outmoft Feather of each Wing, the Ends of the Pinnula^ arc not contiguous one to 

 another, but ftand at a diftance like the Teeth of a fine Comb. 



The Tail is made up of twelve Feathers, of the fame. Colour with the Wings, hav- 

 ing four tranfverfe black Bars, four Inches and a half long ; the interiour Margins of 

 the Feathers both of the Wings and Tail are white. 



The Legs are covered with a thick Down to the Feet, but the Toes are only 

 hairy, the Hairs alfo thin fet; the Claw of the middle Toe is ferrate on the infide as 

 in the Herons, but not fo manifeftly ; it hath two Toes before and two backwards. 



The Guts v/ere eighteen Inches long, the blind Guts but two Inches; it had a large 

 Gall ; its Eggs were white. 



I found this Owl in a Field near JVdtham-Abby in the dusk of the Evening, fly- 

 ing up and down, and now and then catching at the Grafs : I defired my Son 

 who was with me to fhoot him, and when we differed hin^ 1 found in iiis Stomach 

 feveral of the v/hite Grafs-Moths and other Infefts- 



