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 Asia 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 ( f Systeme des Oiseaux de PEgypte et de la Syrie/ p. 9), esta- 

 blished in 1810, and of which the Strix scops of Linnaeus 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 Bubo 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 Palsearctic 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. 



