the specific distinctness or identity of the Barn-Owls of
China, India, the Cape Colony and other countries, which
have been described as differing more or less from that of
Europe. The Barn-Owls of the New World have been considered
to form one or more separate species, but it is doubtful
whether this view can be justifiably maintained, for no
constant difference can be detected in a large series of specimens
from the two worlds. As the American bird to which
the name S trix pratíncola has been assigned is said to be
distributed from Long Island on the east and the Columbia
River on the west coast, southward through Central America
and some of the greater Antilles to South America generally,
it follows that if it, and the other birds just referred to, be
really identical with our Barn-Owl, this species must have a
range little inferior to that of the Short-Eared Owl.
In an old male the beak is almost white; irides black;
facial disk stained with rust-colour at the inner and lower
part of each eye, the margin of the disk defined by the
white feathers being tipped with brown; top of the head
and the neck very pale buff, thinly spotted with black and
white; back and wings darker buff speckled with grey, and
spotted with black and white ; upper surface of tail-feathers
pale buff, with five transverse grey bars ; all the under parts
pure white; the toes dusky, the claws brown. The wings
reach beyond the end of the tail, and the edges of the wing
and tail-feathers have the appearance of being worn, the
fibres forming the web being of unequal length, and the
wings of these birds therefore, when moved in the air, make
very little or no noise. In some specimens, generally found
on dissection to be females or young males, the under
surface of the body is fawn-colour. The whole length of
the bird is about fourteen inches.
A good deal of local variation is observable in this species,
and in particular Danish examples are very darkly coloured,
having the facial disk of a rusty-red. Mr. Stevenson has
recorded the occurrence in Norfolk of such a specimen,
which was probably an accidental visitor to this country of
foreign origin.
,ir iit- : l •l S. -rw. * ' ' .
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L a n iu s e x c u b it o e , Linnaeus*.
THE GREAT GREY SHRIKE.
Lanius excubitor.
L a n iu s , Linnceusf.—Bill short, thick and straight at the base, compressed ;
upper mandible hooked at the point, with a prominent tooth ; base of the bill
beset with hairs directed forwards. Nostrils basal, lateral, oval. Wings of
moderate size ; the first quill-feather shorter than the second, the third the
longest. Tarsns longer than the middle toe, which is united at its base to the
outer toe.
T h e G e e a t G e e y S h r ik e , the largest British species of
the genus is a regular but not very common winter visitor
to this country. On a few occasions it has been seen during
summer; yet it has never been ascertained to breed here,
—though it commonly does so in Holland, Belgium and
northern France, and the large size of the nest and the
variable colour and markings of the eggs of the Red-backed
Shrike have in some instances led to the belief that they
belonged to the Great Shrike.
* Syst. Nat. Ed. 12, i. p. 135 (1766). t Tom. cit. p. 134.
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