62 STRIGINJE. SCOPS. 



and from the latter in having the wings longer, the tarsi 

 more slender, and the toes more or less bare. Bill short, 

 stout, with its upper outline decurved from the base, the 

 lower convex, the tip prolonged, decurved, acute. Nostrils 

 roundish. Eyes very large. Conch elliptical, simple, about 

 a third of the height of the head, the latter very large, 

 roundish ; neck short ; body slender. Legs rather short ; 

 tarsi slender, feathered ; toes short, bare, reticulate, at the 

 end scutellate ; claws long, slightly curved, compressed, 

 tapering, acute. Plumage full, soft ; two elongated tufts on 

 the head ; facial disks incomplete above the eyes ; ruff in- 

 conspicuous and incomplete ; feathers generally ovato-oblong ; 

 wings long, with the third quill longest ; tail short, slightly 

 rounded. 



24. SCOPS ALDROVANDI. ALDROVANDINE OWLET. 



Head with tufts of about twelve feathers ; plumage light 

 grey variegated with brown, and marked with longitudinal 

 brownish-black lines and transverse undulations ; a large 

 whitish spot on the outer scapulars ; primary quills with 

 conspicuous white spots between the brown bands on the 

 outer web. 



Male, 7J, ..-, 6J, T 9 *, 1, A, *J. 



Of very rare occurrence in England, and supposed to be 

 there merely migratory. Said to be common in the southern 

 parts of the continent, and to occur in Africa as well as Asia. 



Scops Eared Owl. Little Horned Owl. 



Strix Scops, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. 129. Strix Scops, Temm. 

 Man. d'Ornith, i. 103. Scops Aldrovandi, Aldrovandine 

 Owlet, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, iii. 422. 



GENUS XIV. BUBO. EAGLE-OWL. 



Bill short, robust, compressed toward the end ; upper man- 

 dible with its outline decurved from the base, the tip sub- 

 trigonal, decurved, acute ; lower mandible with the angle 

 wide, the dorsal line short and slightly convex, the edges 

 decurved at the end, with a sinus close to the abrupt tip. 

 Mouth very wide ; tongue short, oblong, sagittate and papil- 

 late at the base, its tip rounded and retuse ; oesophagus very 

 wide, without crop ; proventriculus dilated below ; stomach 

 large, roundish, very thin, its inner surface smooth and soft ; 



