144 
O WLS. 
been taken. In California the nesting may be as early as January, and there, as 
in other parts of America, the nest may be made in some hole in a bank, which is 
enlarged to suit the requirements of its tenants. Writing of the habits of the 
American barn-owl (which he regards as a distinct species), Captain Bendire 
observes that, strictly speaking, this owl “ makes no nest. If occupying a natural 
cavity of a tree, the eggs are placed on the rubbish that may have accumulated 
at the bottom; if in a bank, they are laid on the bare ground and among the 
pellets of small bones and fur ejected by the parents. Frequently quite a lot of 
such material is found in their burrows, the eggs lying on and among the refuse. 
Incubation usually commences with the first egg laid, and lasts about three weeks. 
The eggs are almost invariably found in different stages of development, and young 
may be found in the same nest with fresh eggs. Both sexes assist in incubation, 
and the pair may be sometimes found sitting side by side, each with a portion of 
the eggs under them.” When the eggs are hatched at distant intervals, it is 
probable that the warmth of the young birds aids in their incubation during the 
absence of the parents. It is on record that the eggs of a barn-owl have been 
removed and replaced by those of a hen, which have been successfully hatched. 
The grass-owl (S. Candida ) is an allied species, ranging from India to Japan 
and Formosa, and found almost exclusively in long grass; while in South Africa 
the common species is replaced by the Cape barn-owl (S. capensis). Both these 
species differ from S. flammea in having the upper surface of a uniform brown 
colour, with spots of white, and lacking the mottlings of grey and black characteris¬ 
ing the former. 
© 
Family BuboniDjE. 
Tengmalm’s Owl. 
With the comparatively small species, represented on the left side 
of the figure on the opposite page, known as Tengmalm’s owl (Nyctala 
tengmalmi), we come to the first representative of the second family of the order, 
distinguished from the last by the breast-bone having two or more distinct 
notches in its lower border, and also by its keel being firmly attached to the 
furcula; in addition to which the third toe is not serrated, and is always longer 
than the second. The cannon-bone, or metatarsus, has a bridge over the hollow at 
the upper end. Tengmalm’s owl belongs to a group of three genera, characterised 
by having the tube of the ear large and furnished with a well-developed lid; and 
also by the face-disc being distinct and extending as much above as below the eye. 
Tengmalm’s owl, together with the Acadian owl {N.acadica) of North America, 
are the representatives of a genus distinguished by the absence of tufts on the 
head, by the extreme shortness of the cere, and the curious circumstance that the 
bony tube of the ear is quite unsjunmetrical on the two sides of the skull. The 
toes are thickly feathered, the head is relatively large, the under mandible notched, 
the wings long and rounded, and the tail short. This owl measures only from 8| 
to 10 inches in length, and may be easily recognised by its thick and fluffy plumage, 
which stands out widely on each side of the head, and by its prettily-mottled 
coloration. The general colour of the upper-parts is pale brown, mottled with white 
bars, and the forehead spotted with white. The tail-feathers are marked with five 
interrupted whitish bars, and the under-parts are greyish white, mottled with clove- 
