Scops Owl 103 



warm when I received it, and I spent the whole night in pre- 

 paring the skin with fingers then unpractised, having, with no 

 little difficulty and at the expense of much time, prevailed on an 

 apothecary to sell me some poison for the purpose, but that not 

 without the written authority of some medical official, whose 

 scruples were not readily overcome. This bird had just swallowed 

 a large rat whole, the tail of which yet remained in its gullet ; 

 and, doubtless, so heavy a repast would increase its natural 

 sluggishness and indisposition to rise ignavus, ' or idle/ being 

 one of the specific names by which it is known to science and 

 made it an easier prey to the peasant who shot it. The last time 

 I was in its company, though personally I did not see it, was in 

 scenery of a very opposite kind, on the smiling and sunny 

 Riviera, at Bordighera, in North Italy. We had ascended to the 

 old ruined castle which is perched above the town, and the 

 foremost of our party, who were some few steps in advance, 

 flushed this monarch of owls from the ivy-covered wall, and 

 were not a little startled at the sudden outburst of such a 

 monster. 



20. SCOPS OWL (Scops giu). 



Very rarely indeed does this beautiful little bird make its 

 appearance in England, and then only in the summer is a 

 straggler occasionally seen, which has left the warmth of 

 Italy and the shores of the Mediterranean for our colder 

 climate. Its favourite haunts seem to be the hot countries 

 near the equator, but every summer it is extremely common 

 throughout Italy, and I found no difficulty in procuring a 

 specimen at Genoa. It is a late-flying species, seldom leaving 

 its retreat till after the sun has gone down below the horizon. 

 It derives its scientific name giu from the Italian in that form, 

 sometimes spelt chiu, and pronounced as the English letter Q, 

 which very accurately expresses its note; and it repeats this 

 plaintive melancholy cry, ' kew ! kew !' or ' keeyou !' ' keeyou !' as 

 Lord Lilford heard it in Spain, at intervals of about two seconds 

 throughout the entire night, which becomes very monotonous 



