264 
WHITE, OR BARN OWL. 
eyes and bill, whitish ; whole lower parts elegantly marked 
with numerous transverse bars of dusky on a bright tawny 
ground, thinly interspersed with white ; vent, pale yellow 
ochre, barred with narrow lines of brown ; legs and feet large, 
and covered with feathers or hairy down of a pale brown 
colour ; claws, very large, blue black ; tail, rounded, extending 
about an inch beyond the tips of the wings, crossed with six 
or seven narrow bars of brown, and variegated or marbled 
with brown and tawny ; whole upper parts finely pencilled with 
dusky, on a tawny and whitish ground ; chin, pure white, 
under that a band of brown, succeeded by another narrow one 
of white ; eyes, very large. 
The female is full two feet in length, and has not the white 
on the throat so pure. She has also less of the bright ferru- 
ginous or tawny tint below ; but is principally distinguished 
by her superior magnitude. 
WHITE, OR BARN OWL. — STRIX FLAMMEA. 
Plate L. Fig. 2. 
Lath. i. 138 Arct. Zool. p. 285, No. 124. — Phil. Trans, iii. 138 L’Effraie, 
ou la Fresaie, Buff. i. 366, pi. 26, PI. enl. 440. — Bewick's Brit. Birds , i. p. 89. 
— Common Owl, Turt. Syst. p. 170 Peale's Museum, No. 486. 
UL ULA FLAM ME A — Cuvier. * 
Strix flammea, 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 found 
here during very severe winters. This may possibly be owing 
* 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 noise- 
less 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 
