Ornithologii of the Var S(c. 389 



eggs, I am given to understand, in disused Magpies' nests, 

 of which there are any amount. According to certain 

 authors, they begin to lay in May, but everybody I asked 

 said that we were too early for them, and that they laid in 

 June. They are rather audacious birds. Two made their 

 way into Mr. Sargeant's premises, another into the Villa 

 Marguerite, and a fourth Avished to come into my house by 

 the window, a habit of temerity which has led to unjust 

 accusations in some places where they have entered churches, 

 it is whispered in search of holy oil ! The flight of the 

 Scops is as soft and noiseless as can be, and its chief food 

 consists of insects, which it has to hand at all times for the 

 taking. It will devour earwigs, mice, and caterpillars, but it is 

 doubtful w hether it eats birds. Spallanzani adds earthworms, 

 of which Athene noctua is very fond. In May the Scops Owls 

 roost in pairs, and a cork-tree within a few yards of the 

 drawing-room at Villa Suveret was their chosen diurnal 

 resort. Here little Scops was to be seen early in the 

 morning, when his labours for the night were over, either 

 quiescent like a stump or with erect horns and attenuated 

 body, very much on the watch ; but I was disappointed 

 at never finding any remains of food under the perch, as I 

 should like to have investigated a few pellets. 



Crespon says that he shot fifteen Scops Owls in one day, 

 probably for eating, which is a pi'oof that they migrate in 

 company, as Asio accipitrhws, Nyctea scandiaca, and Asio 

 otus are known to do occasionally. The culinary merits of 

 the Scops Owl must be great, for Pellicot says it is " sur 

 quelqnes points, notamment a la presqu'ile du Brusq, pres 

 Toulon, Tobjet d^une chasse speciale," and in Malta it is 

 eaten. It is an Owl seldom to be bought of London animal- 

 dealers, though there would not be much difficulty in 

 getting a supply from the Var, one would think. My brother 

 had one alive for some time. 



LoNG-EARED OwL. Asio OtuS. 



Owing perhaps to the many Scops Owls the note of the 

 "Moyen Due'' Avas not detected, but two were seen at Frejus, 



