3o8 SCOPS-OWL. 



In fact, it is found in summer as far, north as the grape annually 

 ripens, but it is most numerous in those warmer countries in 

 which the olive-tree also grows, though there it may ascend to 

 elevations far above the oil-producing zone. On migration, numbers 

 are taken in Malta and served at table (Lilford). In the Mediter- 

 ranean basin it appears to be to some extent resident, as it is also in 

 portions of Northern Africa ; but the majority pass onward, to winter 

 in Abyssinia and Senaar. Our Scops-Owl is common in summer in 

 Asia Minor, Palestine, Persia and Turkestan ; but in the Indian and 

 African regions it has several representatives of greater or less specific 

 distinctness. 



About the middle of May this Owl usually lays its white eggs 

 (5-6 in number and measuring about i"25 by i in.) in some hollow 

 cork- or olive-tree, though elms, poplars and willows are used ; 

 sometimes, however, it resorts to a hole in a wall or a roof ; while 

 in the south of France it is said to make use of old Magpies' nests. 

 It is partial to cork- and olive-woods as well as to groves of trees on 

 the banks of rivers ; and its note may frequently be heard in the 

 gardens of large cities, such as Seville and Florence. To my ear, 

 its cry is a clear, metallic, ringing ki-oii — whence the Italian names 

 Chiu or Ciii. This Owl is particularly nocturnal, and, although it 

 can face the sunlight, yet, except when disturbed, I never saw it on 

 the wing in the day-time, during which it remains perched across a 

 branch, often close to the stem. It then resembles, beneath the 

 shady foliage, some gnarled stump or knot, but, on a tap being given 

 to the trunk, this supposed knot will be seen to shoot up to double 

 its former height and exhibit a pair of ear-tufts. So abundant is 

 this quaint little bird on the wood-fringed banks of the Tagus and the 

 Jarama that I have found over a score in an afternoon's ramble. 

 It feeds on beetles, grasshoppers, large moths and other insects ; 

 perhaps also on mice and small birds, but it is chiefly insectivorous. 



The general colour of the plumage is grey, with a dark centre to 

 each feather and vermiculations of various shades of brown ; facial 

 disk incomplete above the eyes; ear-tufts conspicuous when erected; 

 legs feathered, but feet bare ; beak black ; irides yellow ; operculum 

 wanting. Length : male 7-5 in., wing 5-8 in. ; female 8 in., wing 

 6-1 in. The female is often rather more rufous than the male, while 

 the young are decidedly so. 



Examples of the American Scops asio are said to have been 

 obtained in Yorkshire and Norfolk, but no credence need be attached 

 to these statements. 



