SCOPS OWL. 301 



white, more regularly on the crown than on the back ; the tail 

 is barred with brown. The under parts are white with brown 

 bars and streaks ; the facial disc greyish white. The bill is 

 yellowish white, the claws black, the irides yellow. Length, 

 9 ins. Wing, &$ ins. Tarsus, 75 in. 



Scops Owl. Ofns scops (Linn.). 



Scops Owl (Plate 124) is the smallest owl which occurs in 

 Britain, and its visits are uncertain and irregular. It is a 

 summer visitor to southern Europe, north-west Africa and 

 western Asia ; allied forms occur in other parts of the 

 Palaearctic and Nearctic regions, and the American bird has 

 been reported, on evidence considered inconclusive, to have 

 occurred in England. The usual winter quarters are in Africa, 

 but on migration the bird wanders and has frequently been 

 met with in Europe north of its normal breeding area ; in the 

 British Isles it has occurred, for the most part in spring but 

 also in autumn, in England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland and 

 the northern isles. 



More nocturnal than the other small owls, Scops Owl spends 

 the day on a branch, close to the trunk, and like the Long- 

 eared Owl instantly straightens up its body and erects its ear- 

 tufts if disturbed ; against the bark its brownish-grey dress is 

 inconspicuous. The monotonous call is spelt by those who 

 have heard it as kin, ki-ou^ or kee-00, and a Cheshire game- 

 keeper, who heard the bird for two or three nights before he 

 shot it, described it to me as ketu, kew, putting emphasis on 

 the k. Though it will eat small mammals, its food chiefly 

 consists of insects. 



Scops Owl, easily distinguished from the Little Owl by its 

 erectile horns and from Tengm aim's by its bare toes, is a small 

 grey bird, mottled and vermiculated with brown and grey ; on 

 both upper and under parts most of the feathers have dark 



