192 BRITISH BIRDS. 
Genus SCOPS. 
The Scops Owls were first separated from the genus Strix by Gerini 
in 1767, in his ‘ Ornithologia Methodice Digesta,’ i. p. 86, under the name 
of Asio, of which he enumerates seven species. As Gerini’s Asio is not 
the same as the Asio of Brisson, which has been extensively adopted by 
ornithologists, its retention would be liable to produce considerable con- 
fusion ; and it is therefore wisest to pass it over in favour of the Scops of 
Savigny (‘Systéme des Oiseaux de l’Egypte et de la Syrie,’ p. 9), esta- 
blished in 1810, and of which the Striv scops of Linnzus may be fairly 
considered the type. 
The Scops Owls have no operculum, and the nostrils are not inflated— 
characters which distinguish them from every other genus except Surnia 
and Bubo. From the former they may be distinguished by their conspicuous 
ear-tufts, their more compact plumage, and by the fact that the longitu- 
dinal streaks on the underparts are more conspicuous than the compara- 
tively obscure transverse vermiculations. From the latter they are only 
generically separated for the sake of convenience, the wing never exceeding 
nine inches in length, whereas in the genus Budo it is never less than 
twelve. 
There is nothing peculiar in the habits of these birds, which resemble 
those of the Owls in general. Their eggs are pure white. There are five- 
and-twenty or more species recognized by ornithologists, and as many sub- 
species, in this genus. 
They are almost cosmopolitan in their range, principally confined to the 
tropical regions, being only found in the southern portions of the Nearctic 
and Palearctic regions, and not extending into the extreme south of South 
America. One species only is found in Europe, which is only an acci- 
dental visitor to the British Isles. 
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