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THE STRIGID.E, OR THE OWLS. 



THE usual haunts of this family are in wooded and 

 sheltered districts, where they can seek a retreat 

 from the glare of the sun and the observation of 

 the smaller diurnal birds, who are well known to 

 torment them at a time when they can but ill de- 

 fend themselves; whether it is that this part of 

 Africa possesses few of these nocturnal birds, or from 

 any other cause, we have as yet received only three 

 species of the family from the districts which have 

 supplied us with so many others inhabiting the land. 

 Two of these belong to the horned group or Otw, 

 the other is a representative of the little passerine 

 owls of America. 



WHITE-FACED SCOPS OWL. 



Scops kucotis, SWAINS. 



Face, white ; ears, margined behind with a black band , 

 egrets, light brown, with delicate transverse lines, and tipt 

 externally with deep black : under plumage with a black 

 line down the shaft of each feather. 



Strix leucotis, Temm. PI. Col. pi. 16. 



WITHOUT any gay or diversified tints, the owl before 

 us is nevertheless an unusually elegant bird, so far 

 at least as regards its plumage ; for in this family 

 the form of the body in all its parts is thick and 



