4i6 OWLS 



repose on the ground ; but when they enter the wooded districts, as 

 is sometimes the case, they avail themselves of trees as roosting-places. 



The hawk-owl {Snniia u/u/a) is too rare a straggler to our islands 

 to claim full notice or an established position in the British list. It 

 is unfortunate that naturalists apply the name of " hawk-owl " to two 

 totally different types of birds, namely, the present species and the 

 members of the Asiatic genus A^hiox, the latter being the more hawk- 

 like. A general hawk-like appearance, and especiall)' the long wedge- 

 shaped tail and strongly barred plumage of the under surface, are the 

 most striking features of the present species. Typically the hawk-owl 

 is a native of northern Europe, but it is represented by a local race 

 (S. iiliila deliata) on the two sides of Bering Strait and Siberia, and by 

 a third (6". Jilula fiinerea, or, as some would have it, '' caparoch'') in 

 Arctic America ; the latter being distinguished by its broader and 

 redder chest-bands and blacker head. Of this American race (regarded 

 by some writers as a species) six occurrences in Britain have been 

 recorded, namely, one in Cornwall in 1830, one in Somerset in 1847, 

 a third near Glasgow in 1863, a fourth (represented by two specimens) 

 near Greenock in 1868, a fifth in Aberdeenshire in 1898, and a 

 sixth in Northamptonshire in 1903. Of the typical European race 

 one example was taken in Shetland in i 860, and a second in Wiltshire 

 in 1876. 



The resemblance of the hawk-owl to a hawk is (like that of the cuckoo) 

 apparently an instance of true mimicry, for not onl)' has the owl a 

 hawk-like appearance, but it has likewise the flight of a hawk, and 

 utters a screaming cry which might well be taken for that of a kestrel. 

 The dense pine-forests of the north arc the favourite haunts of the 

 hawk-owl. 



^ , The small owl known by the title of " scops " is 

 Scops Owl . . / 



■ r, . . a diminutive relative of the eagle-owl, and the 



(Scops giu). ^ 



smallest of all the British " horned owls," measuring 



not more than 8 inches in total length. This small size, coupled with 



the presence of ear-tufts, is, therefore, sufficient to enable the species to 



be recognised. In colour the upper-parts are a mi.xture of chestnut 



and wood brown, with what may be best described as a " frosting " of 



grey and dark streaks, a similar grey frosting also pervading the under- 



parts, which arc buff with dark brown streaks ; the face-disk is speckled 



with gre)'ish white and brown and margined with brown ; while the 



eyes are yellow. The extension of the feathering of the legs to the 



bases of the toes, which are sparsely covered with bristles, is another 



