_Strix_, SAVIGNY, 1809 (_nec_ LINN. 1735). (Type, _Strix flammea_,
LINN.)
_Stridula_, SELLYS-LONGCH, 1842.
_Eustrinx_, WEBB & BERTH. 1844.
_Hybris_, NITZSCH.
[Illustration: =6885= ⅓
_Strix pratincola._]
GEN. CHAR. Size medium. No ear-tufts; facial ruff entirely continuous,
very conspicuous. Wing very long, the first or second quill longest,
and all without emargination. Tail short, emarginated. Bill elongated,
compressed, regularly curved; top of the cere nearly equal to the
culmen, straight, and somewhat depressed. Nostril open, oval, nearly
horizontal. Eyes very small. Tarsus nearly twice as long as the middle
toe, densely clothed with soft short feathers, those on the posterior
face inclined upwards; toes scantily bristled; claws extremely sharp and
long, the middle one with its inner edge pectinated. Ear-conch nearly as
long as the height of the head, with an anterior operculum, which does
not extend its full length; the two ears symmetrical?
The species of _Strix_ are distributed over the whole world, though
only one of them is cosmopolitan. This is the common Barn Owl (_S.
flammea_), the type of the genus, which is found in nearly every
portion of the world, though in different regions it has experienced
modifications which constitute geographical races. The other species, of
more restricted distribution, are peculiar to the tropical portions of
the Old World, chiefly Australia and South Africa.
Synopsis of the Races of S. flammea.
=S. flammea.= Face varying from pure white to delicate claret-brown;
facial circle varying from pure white, through ochraceous and rufous,
to deep black. Upper parts with the feathers ochraceous-yellow
basally; this overlaid, more or less continuously, by a grayish wash,
usually finely mottled and speckled, with dusky and white. Primaries
and tail barred transversely, more or less distinctly, with distant
dusky bands, of variable number. Beneath, varying from pure snowy
white to tawny rufous, immaculate or speckled. Wing, 10.70–13.50.
Wing, 10.70–12.00; tail, 4.80–5.50; culmen, .75–.80; tarsus,
2.05–2.15; middle toe, 1.25–1.30. Tail with four dark bands, and
sometimes a trace of a fifth. Hab. Europe and Mediterranean region
of Africa …
var. _flammea_.[13]
Wing, 12.50–14.00; tail, 5.70–7.50; culmen, .90–1.00; tarsus,
2.55–3.00. Tail with four dark bands, and sometimes a trace of a
fifth. Colors lighter than in var. _flammea_. _Hab._ Southern North
America and Mexico …
var. _pratincola_.
Wing, 11.30–13.00; tail, 5.30–5.90; tarsus, 2.55–2.95. Colors of
var. _flammea_, but more uniform above and more coarsely speckled
below. _Hab._ Central America, from Panama to Guatemala …
var. _guatemalæ_.[14]
Wing, 11.70–12.00; tail, 4.80–5.20; tarsus, 2.40–2.75. Tail more
even, and lighter colored; the dark bars narrower, and more sharply
defined. Colors generally paler, and more grayish. _Hab._ South
America (Brazil, etc.) …
var. _perlata_.[15]
Wing, 12.00–13.50; tail, 5.60–6.00; culmen, .85–.95; tarsus,
2.70–2.85; middle toe, 1.45–1.60. Colors as in var. _perlata_,
but secondaries and tail nearly white, in abrupt contrast to the
adjacent parts; tail usually without bars. _Hab._ West Indies (Cuba
and Jamaica, Mus. S. I.) …
var. _furcata_.[16]
Wing, 11.00; tail, 5.00; culmen, about .85; tarsus, 2.05–2.45;
middle toe, 1.30–1.40. Colors of var. _pratincola_, but less of the
ochraceous, with a greater prevalence of the gray mottling. Tail
with four dark bands _Hab._ Australia …
var. _delicatula_.[17]
Wing, 11.00–11.70; tail, 5.10–5.40; culmen, .85–.90; tarsus,
2.30–2.45; middle toe, 1.35–1.45. Same colors as var. _delicatula_.
Tail with four dark bands (sometimes a trace of a fifth). _Hab._
India and Eastern Africa …
var. _javanica_.[18]
Strix flammea, var. pratincola, BONAP.