THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
for New Caledonia, and has described Tyto alba lifuensis from Lifu, which 
does not seem right on geographical grounds alone. 
As the species name of the Owl, alba is used, and I here give the reasons 
for the rejection of flammea, which is especially important, as this is retained 
as a “ nomen conservandum ” in the British Ornithologists’ Union List of 
British Birds, 2nd edition. 
In the twelfth edition of Linne’s 8y sterna Naturae, published in 1766, a 
species was named Strix fiammea. Through some inexplicable misunderstanding 
this became recognised as the Barn Owl. As noted previously, Billberg as 
long ago as 1828, writing upon the birds of Sweden, where Linne liv^ed and 
whence he described his Strix fiammea, intimated that this was not the Barn 
Owl, which was not a native of Sweden, but the Short-eared Owl. No one 
took much notice of this correction, so that the error persisted, but in recent 
years the matter has again been investigated and the same result arrived at. 
This meant the rejection of the specific name f ammea in connection with the 
Barn Owl and its use for the Short-eared Owl. Moreover, it was found that 
Pontoppidan in 1763, three years before Linne used the name, had figured 
in his Danish Zoology the Short-eared Owl under the name Strix fiammea. 
The next name in chronological order, or rather the first name given to 
the Barn Owl, is Strix alba, proposed by Scopoli for an Italian bird. 
British ornithologists of the older school, more concerned with customary 
usage than accuracy, have endeavoured to retain fiammea for the Barn Owl. 
This misuse has so prejudiced one of the Committee, Mr. W. R. Ogilvie- 
Grant, that when dealing with New Guinea birds he has exaggerated the error 
by calling an Owl Fiammea fiammea novoehollandice {Ibis, Jubilee Suppl., 
No. 2, Dec. 1915, p. 258). The species Tyto alba {=Flammea fiammea Ogilvie- 
Grant) and Tyto novcehollandice are two very distinct species, as even Mr. 
Ogilvie-Grant will admit when he notices the error. 
372 
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