WHITE OR BARN OWL. 2 6"J 



WHITE OR BARN OWL. {Strix fiammea) 



PLATE L.— Fig. 2. 



Lath. i. 138.— Arct. Zool. p. 235, No. 124.— Phil. Trans, iii. 138.— L'Effraie, 

 cm la Fresaie, Buff. i. 366, pi. 26, PI. enl. 440. — Bewick's Brit. Birds, i. p. 89. 

 — Common Owl, Turt. Syst. p. 170. — Peak's Museum, No. 486. 



ULULA FLAMMEA.—Cvvim..* 



Strix fiammea, Bonap. Synop. p. 38. 



This owl, though so common in Europe, is much rarer in 

 this part of the United States than the preceding, and is only 



* From the authority of most writers, this owl is common to both 

 continents. Temminck says those from America are exactly the same. 

 I have not personally had an opportunity of comparing them. 



In all true night-feeding birds, or those that require to steal upon their 

 prey unobserved, the general plumage is formed for a light, smooth, 

 and noiseless flight ; but the members are not adapted for great swiftness, 

 or for seizing their prey by quick and sudden evolutions. The form 

 is comparatively light, as far as the necessary requisites for sufficient 

 strength can be combined with it ; and the plumage being ample and 

 loose, assists by its buoyancy, and does not offer the same resistance to 

 the air as one of a stiff and rigid texture. The wings, the great organs 

 of locomotion, and which, in flight, produce the most noise, are rounded, 

 having the webs of the feathers very broad, calculated for a power- 

 ful and sustaining flight ; and the mechanism of the feathers at once 

 bespeaks an intention to destroy the sound produced by motion. In 

 all those birds which perform very swift and rapid flights— the falcons, 

 for instance, swifts, or swallows, many of the sea-fowl, the frigate bird 

 — the wings are very pointed (a contrariety of form to the Strigidce), 

 with the plumules very closely united, and locked together, so as to 

 form almost a thin or solid slip. These produce more resistance, and 

 act as a strong propelling medium when vigorously used. In the owd.«, 

 the wings present a larger surface, but are not so capable of swift motion ; 

 . and to prevent the noise which would necessarily be produced by the 

 violent percussion of so great an expanse, the webs are entirely detached 

 at the tips, and the plumules of the inner ones being drawn to a fine 

 point, thus offer a free passage to the air, and a gradual diminution of 

 resistance. As a further proof that this structure is so intended, we find 

 it to a much less extent in those species that feed occasionally during the 

 day, and we have also the narrowing and accumination of the wings, 

 denoting superior flight ; while, in some, there is a still greater digression 

 in the elongated tail. — Ed. 



