254 BUBONID.E SCOPS 



Angola, on July 22, 1882. Another nest, was a large flattish 

 structure composed of sticks and twigs finely put together without 

 any lining of softer materials; it was situated in the highest branches 

 of a large dry tree ; the eggs, two in number, were pure white, round 

 at both ends and slightly incubated ; this nest was found on the 

 Limpopo river near its junction with the Marico on August 8." 



The egg from the former nest, now in the South African Museum, 

 is smooth, rounded and white ; it measures 2-35 x 2-0. 



Genus IV. SCOPS. 



Type. 



Scops, Sav. (nee Moehr. 1752) Deer, de I'Egypte, 

 pp. 9, 47 (1810; .......................................... P. scops. 



Pisorhina, Kaup, Isis, 1848, p. 769 .................. P. menadensis. 



Bill small and weak, not much hooked, cere slightly swollen, 

 the nostrils round, at the margin of the cere ; facial disc not very 

 distinctly marked, ear tufts well developed ; wings long, reaching 

 to the end of the tail or only falling short of it by very little ; tail 

 short, about half the length of the wing ; tarsi feathered to the toe 

 joints but the toes themselves free from feathers (in the South 

 African species). 



This genus, containing a large number of owls of small size, is 

 found all over the world except in Australia. Only one species 

 closely allied to that of central and southern Europe (S. giu) is 

 found within our limits. The White-faced Owl usually placed here 

 is better located in the genus Asio. 



Scops is the name usually used for these little owls ; it has 

 recently been rejected by some authors as it was previously used 

 by Moehring (Avium Genera, p. 73, 1752), for another group of 

 birds, but Moehring was not a binominalist and. his genera are not 

 generally recognised. 



499. Scops capensis. Cape Scops Owl. 



Le Scops, Levaillant, Ois. d'Afr. i, p. 162 (1799). 



Scops capensis, Smith, 8. Afr. Quart. Journ. ii, p. 315 (1834) ; Gurney 

 in Anders son's B. Damar aland, p. 38 (187'2) ; Sha-rpe, ed. Layard's 

 B. S. Afr. pp. 75, 801 (1875-84) ; id. Cat. B. M. ii, p. 52, pi. iii, fig. 1 

 (1875) ; Butler, Feilden, and Beid, Zool 1882, p. 204 [Newcastle]; 

 Ayres, Ibis, 1885, p. 342 [Kustenburg] ; SJielley, B. Afr. i, p. 143 



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