64 ORNITHOLOGY AND OOLOGY. 



arranged a few leaves and pieces of moss, and a few feath 

 ers from the body of the parent ; on this nest were found 

 three young birds, apparently but a few days old, as they 

 were covered with gray down, and a few grayish feath- 

 ers. On being taken in the hand, they clutched it tight 

 with their claws, and squatted perfectly still. The iris 

 of their eyes was a light-grayish color : the inside of their 

 mouths, eyelids, and ears, were yellowish. At the foot of 

 the stump were found small pellets of feathers, small bones, 

 and hairs. I have heard of the deserted nest of a crow or 

 hawk being occupied by this Owl ; but usually it builds its 

 own nest. 



. SCOPS, Savigny. 



Savigny, Nat. Hist. Egypt, 1. 105 (1809). 



Size small; ear-tufts conspicuous ; head large; facial disc imperfect in front and 

 about the eyes; bill short, nearly covered by projecting feathers; wings long; tail 

 rather short, and frequently curved inwards; tarsi rather long, more or less fully 

 covered with short feathers; toes long, generally partially covered with hair-like 

 feathers; head large. 



General form short and compact. This genus contains twenty-five to thirty 

 species of small owls, inhabiting all parts of the world except Australia. 



SCOPS ASIO. — Bonaparte. 



The Mottled Owl; Screech Owl; Eed Owl. 



Strix Asio, Linnaeus. Syst. Nat., 1. 132 (1766). Audubon, Wilson, and others 



Strix mma, Gm. S3'st. Nat., I. 289 (1788). 



Bubo strialus, Vieillot. Ois. d'Am. Sept., I. 54 (1808). 



Description. 



" Short and compact; ear-tufts prominent; tail short; tarsi rather long. 



"Adult. — Upper parts pale ashy-brown, with longitudinal lines of brownish-black, 

 and mottled irregularly with the same and with cinereous ; under parts ashy-white, 

 with longitudinal stripes of brownish-black, and with transverse lines of the same 

 color; face, throat, and tarsi ashy-white, irregularly lined and mottled with pale- 

 brownish ; quills brown, with transverse bands, nearly white on the outer webs ; 

 tail pale ashy-brown, with about ten' transverse narrow bands of pale-cinereous; 

 under wing coverts white, the larger tipped with black ; bill and claws light horn- 

 color; irides yellow. 



" Younger. — Entire upper parts pale brownish-red, with longitudinal lines of 

 orownish-black, especially on the head and scapulars; face, throat, under wing 

 coverts, and tarsi reddish-white; quills reddish-brown; tail rufous, with bands oi 

 brown, darker on the inner webs. 



