The colouration of the underparts of the Barn Owl ranges in Europe from reddish-brown to white. This character, that shows a clinal variation, is thought to be a marker of subspecies identity. The subspecific identity or transitional state of a total 64 Barn Owl Tyto alba pairs was determined on the basis of their phenotypic characteristics. The present authors investigated the breadth of the transition zone in Hungary on the basis of the distribution of the white-chested subspecies and the transitional phenotype, and it was found to be at least 500 km wide. The width of the transition zone may result from the lack of preferences in mating pair choice. The observed pattern of phenotypic distribution is due to the marginal location of the studied population in the transition zone.
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