68 BRITISH BIRDS. 



THE SCOPS EARED OWL. 



(Strix Scops , Linn. Hibou Scops, Temm.) 



THIS is the smallest of the Owl kind in this 

 country; its bill is brown at the base, and paler 

 at the tip ; irides light yellow. The upper plumage 

 appears brown, the under grey, but on a nearer 

 inspection the whole is prettily variegated with 

 white spots, streaks, and bars of dusky brown, 

 rufous and yellow, and almost every feather is 

 speckled with white, brown, and grey ; the circular 

 feathers on the face are powdered with brown : 

 the neck, head, and ear feathers, are much the 

 same, but more distinctly marked with bars, 

 streaks, and spots of white, yellow, and brown ; 

 the back feathers and greater coverts of the wings 

 are barred, streaked, and speckled with the same 

 colours, but on their outer margins are patched 

 with spots of white ; the greater quills are trans- 

 versely barred on their outer webs with white and 



