BUBONID^: SCOPS 255 



(1896) ; Sharpe,Jbi8, 1897, p. 496 [Zululand]; Woodward Bros. Natal 



B. p. 157 (1899). 

 Ephialtes capensis, Gurnet/, Ibis, 1859, p. 242 [Natal]; it?. //>/*, 1868, 



p. 149; Holub ; V Pelzeln, Om. Siid-Afr. p. 47 (1882). 

 Ephialtes senegalensis, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 41 (1867). 

 Pisorhina capensis, Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 394 ; Beiclicnow, 



Vog. Afr. i, p. 666 (1901). 



Description. Adult female. General colour above, dark grey 

 streaked and mottled with black, and spotted especially on the 

 scapulars and wing-coverts with white, also with traces here and 

 there of a rufous wash ; quills greyish-black spotted on the outer 

 web only with white ; tail mottled black and pale rufous ; lores and 

 facial disc iron-grey, bounded behind by an indistinct line with 



FIG. 85. Scops capensis. x \. 



rufous edging ; below, lighter than the back, becoming almost white 

 on the abdomen and lower tail-coverts, with black streaks and 

 mottlings often with a rufous edging ; feathering of the tarsus falling 

 short of the toe joints. 



Iris bright yellow ; bill and toes bluish-horn. 



Length 7-0; wing 5'0 ; tail 2-10; tarsus 1-0; culmen 0-4. 



A male is slightly larger in size, wing 5*15 ; tail 2-30. 



Distribution. The Cape Scops Owl is closely allied to the 

 European species, only differing in its slightly smaller size and in 

 the tarsus not being feathered quite up to the toe joints. It is 

 found over the greater part of Africa, from Abyssinia southwards 



