76. Strix plammea. Barn Owl.
Strix affinis, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 43. (1867.)
This Owl is common all over the colony, breeding in the roof
of nearly every farm-honse that we have entered. Mr. Rickard
records it from Bast London and Port Elizabeth. Mr. T. E.
Buckley obtained a male in Bamangwato, and the British Museum
contains a Transvaal specimen, presented by Mr. A. Foresman : but
Mr. Ayres does not appear to have obtained it in Natal. Dr. Dickerson
shot it at Quilimane in the Zambesi country. Mr. Andersson m
his c Birds of Damara Land ’ writes :—“ South of the Orange River
this Owl is exceedingly common, but north of that river it is a very
scarce bird, though widely distributed over all the countries of which
these notes treat.” Mr. Monteiro states that it is abundant about
Benguela, and Anchieta has procured it at Gambos in the Mossa-
medes district. In Angola the same traveller has obtained it at
Ambaca, Toulson at Loanda, and Welwitsch at Bengo.
In Mr. Fry’s fir-trees, a pair or two were to be found at any time.
They occupy the same perch for days together, the ground below
being covered with their pellets. On examining these, they will be
found to consist almost entirely of the bones of mice—once only
have we found the skull of a bird.
Eggs, two to four in number, pure white, not shining : axis, 1 7 ;
diam., 1" 4 " '. These birds, will continue laying in the same nest
though it may be robbed many times in succession. We took three
pair of eggs from a nest in Mr. ¿otze’s wine store at the Berg river
in September. Mr. Thomas Atmore writes on 12th July, 1870,
“ Strix poensis has already hatched in the F. A. M.Police Barracks,
and the men have taken the young ones.”
Upper parts rather deep reddish-orange, profusely mottled with
dark grey, and spotted with white. Tail with four bars of deep
brown, variegated with grey. Under parts ochreous-yellow, spotted
with small arrow-head-shaped marks of a dark brown : on the feet
and half-way up the legs, short, stiff, yellowish hairs. Facial disk
white, tinted with vinaceous, darkest at the inner angle of the eye,
and surrounded with a circle of dark brown, approaching to black,
on the lower half. Length, 16" ; wing, 12” ; tail, 5” O'” .
OEDEE PICAELE.
Fam. CAPRIMULGrlDiE.
78. Caprihulgus europ^ us. European Nightjar.
Caprimulgus smithii, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 47.
Caprimulgus infuscatus, Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 242, et 1863, p. 151.
Sir A. Smith was the first to figure the common Nightjar as a South
African bird, but Prince Bonaparte considered it to be a different
species, an opinion in which, until lately, we ourselves were disposed
to endorse. We have, however, lately seen undoubted specimens of
G. europoeus from the Cape Colony, and several are to be found in
the national collection. According to Prof. Malmgren in the ‘ Ibis,’
for 1869, (p. 69) a typical European Goatsucker was procured at Port
Natal on the 2nd of February, 1840 : Mr. Ayres has also met with
it there, and Captain Shelley during a recent visit to that colony
“ frequently met with it at Durban and Pinetown.” Mr. Atmore
obtained an adult male in full plumage at Grahamstown, and we
have received it from Colesberg, Swellendam and other places in the
Cape Colony, and have shot it ourselves in the neighbourhood of
Cape Town. The late Mr. Andersson also met with it at the Knysna,
a specimen killed by him on the 12th of February, 1866, having the
white-spotted tail-feathers just appearing.
We have noticed that Goatsuckers are more abundant near Cape
Town during the month of March, doubtless congregating together
before their departure northwards. It is just possible that, like the
European Bee-eater, the present species breeds during its sojourn in
South Africa, as some eggs of whose parentage we are not quite
certain (though we know of no other South African species which
could lay claim to them) probably belong to this bird. They are of
a light cream colour, minutely freckled with purplish brown and
grey. Axis, 12'” ; diam., 9"'.
As the Nightjars are all very similar in coloration, we purpose
only to give such characters as may be of use in distinguishing the
different species found in South Africa. Thus the European Night-
G 2