Genus SCOPS, Savigny. 



Gen. Char, Size small ; ear-tufts conspicuous ; facial disk imperfect in front. Bill short, 

 nearly covered by projecting feathers ; wings long ; tail rather short, frequently curved inwards ; 

 tarsi rather long, more or less fully covered with short feathers ; those on the toes hair-like. 



There are said to be abo7tt twenty-five species of Scops, some 

 of these, however, are exceedingly doubtful, and it is probable 

 that this number will yet have to be considerably reduced. The 

 same remark may be said to apply to most of the genera of both 

 the FalconidcE and Strigidce. 



Scops Asio (Linn.) Bonap. 



SCREECH OWL ; MOTTLED OWL ; RED OWL. 

 PLATE XXI. 



This droll little Owl is the second smallest species in Canada, 

 and probably the whole of North America. Though represented 

 in nearly every museum and many of our private collections, it is 

 but seldom met with by the ordinary traveller, and is generally 

 regarded as anything but a common bird. This apparent scarcity 

 of individuals, however, is in a great measure due to its habits, 

 which are strictly nocturnal, and perhaps the greater number of 

 the specimens which have been taken have been captured alive 

 during day-light, when the bird may be said to be almost blind. 

 It is undoubtedly one of our most nocturnal species. 



This Owl has been the subject of much controversy among 

 American ornithologists, and probably more has been written 

 upon it than upon all the other species of the family together. 

 This has arisen from the fact that the individuals of the species 

 appear in two distinct stages of plumage — a red and a gray. 

 These have been described by some naturalists as two distinct 

 species, and by others as merely different stages of but one ; while 

 a third class of writers maintained that the red plumage was due 



