B A R N -OW L .
Strix flammea, Linn.
BAEN-OWL
STRIX FLAMMEA, Linn.
Strix flammea, Linn. S. N. i. p. 133 (1766); Naum. i.
p. 483; Macff. iii. p. 476; Hewitson, i. p. 61; Dresser,
v. p. 237.
Aluco flammeus, Yarr. ed. 4, i. p. 194.
Effraye commune, French; Schleier-Eule, German; Le-
chuza, Spanish.
This most useful of birds is more or less common
throughout the United Kingdom, and is perhaps better
known as White or Screech-Owl, than by the designation
above given. I am glad to believe that the minds
of game-preservers and game-keepers are gradually
awakening to the fact that in destroying Owls in general,
and this species in particular, they are committing acts
of the most egregious folly, not only as regards the
birds which are the special objects of their care and
protection, but also from an agricultural point of view,
for these Owls not only destroy enormous numbers of
rats, mice, and voles, but also take many Sparrows and
other seed-eating birds from their nocturnal resorts; the
stolid and unenlightened game-keeper may plead that