352 LAND-BIRDS. 



that sounds pleasant to my ears. When moving along a 

 plane surface, Scops progresses, with a half walk, half hop, 

 which is certainly not the most graceful gait possible. 



" When out at night among the trees Scops acts in much 

 the same manner as when in the house, hopping from limb to 

 limb, looking about with a quick, graceful motion of the head, 

 sometimes turning the head around so that the face comes 

 directly behind. 



" When it returns to the house in the morning, daylight is 

 often long passed, and even sunrise. The alarm note is a kind 

 of low moan ; this was often uttered at the sight of a tamed 

 gray squirrel (but with which it has now become better ac- 

 quainted), and always at the sight of its old enemy, the dog. 



" While flying. Scops moves through the air with a quick, 

 steady motion, alighting on any object without missing a foot- 

 hold. I never heard it utter a note when thus moving. 

 When perching, it does not grasp with its claws, but holds 

 them at some distance from the wood, clasping with the soles 

 of the toes. When it has eaten enough of a bird, it hides 

 the remaining portions in any convenient place near by. . . . 



" Sometimes in the day-time it will take a sudden start, flit- 

 ting about the room like a spectre, alighting on different ob- 

 jects to peer about, which it does by moving sideways, turning 

 the head in various directions, and going through many 

 curious movements; but it always returns to its perch and 

 settles down quietly. 



" I once placed a stuffed Owl of its own species near it, 

 when it ruffled its feathers, gave a series of hisses, moans, 

 and snappings of the beak, and stretched out one wing at full 

 length in front of its head as a shield to repulse what it took 

 to be a stranger invading its own domains. As the stuffed 

 bird was pushed nearer, Scops budged not an inch, but looked 

 fiercer than ever ; its ruffled back-feathers were erected high, 

 its eyes sparkled, and its whole attitude was one of war. 



" Some time since, the building in which my pet was kept 

 was torn down, and the bird was absent for two weeks ; but 

 a new building has been erected near the site of the old one, 

 and to-day I found Scops in the new cellar, sitting on a pro- 



