WHITE OWL. 
61 
FtAPTORES. 
STRIG1DAE . 
WHITE OWL, BARN, or SCREECH-OWL. 
Strix flammea. 
PLATE XVir. FIG. I. 
Although the White Owl breeds with others of the 
tribe early in the season, it seems in some cases to pro¬ 
long the pleasures of incubation to a much longer period 
than is enjoyed by other birds. Mr. Blyth mentions a 
very curious instance of this. “ A nest of the barn owl 
last summer in this neighbourhood (Tooting) contained 
two eggs, and when these were hatched two more were 
laid, which latter were probably hatched by the warmth 
of the young birds. A third laying took place after the 
latter were hatched, and the nest at last contained six 
young owls of three different ages, which were all 
reared.” 
This confirms the supposition which I ventured when 
speaking of the long-eared owl, that the owls do not 
deposit their eggs as other birds for the most part do, in 
regular daily succession. 
This owl breeds in old ruins, under the eaves and in 
the steeples of churches — and may be found in York 
Minster—in deserted dove-cotes, in barns, and also in 
the holes of trees, and lays from three to five eggs. A 
nest which the Messrs. Tuke found near York contained 
six eggs; and it is rather curious that a nest and eggs 
of the starling were in the same tree close below it. The 
