General 
descrip- 
tion. 
56 RAPACES. STRIX. EareEep Owts. 
Bill bluish black. Indes bright gamboge-yellow. Fea- 
thers covering the nostrils, white, with black shafts. 
Circle immediately around the eyes, black. Cheeks 
yellowish-brown, the shafts and ends of the feathers 
black. Circle of small feathers round the face, mottled 
with yellowish-orange, black, and white, except opposite 
to the orifice of the ear, where it is wholly black. Fore- 
head furnished on each side with four or five feathers a 
little longer than the rest, which it can erect or depress 
at pleasure. Head, back, and wing-coverts brownish- 
black, deeply edged with buff orange. Greater quills 
bright ochreous yellow, the two first with two dusky 
bars on the outer web, the next two with three, and the 
rest with four ; all of them having one irregular bar on 
the inner web ; and the tips fading into ash-grey. Breast 
aud belly buff orange, streaked with brownish-black 
down the centres of the feathers. Legs and toes cover- 
ed with downy ochreous feathers. Claws black, and 
very sharp. 
This description varies but little from that of PENNANT, 
who first gave an accurate description of this bird, and 
added it to the British Fauna. My measurement is, 
however, greater than that which he assigns to it; but 
it proved to be the general standard of a great many 
specimens that came under my hand. 
Scops-eared Ow].—Strix Scops, Linn. 
PLATE 22. 
Strix Scops, Linn. Syst. 1. p. 129. 5.—Gmel. Syst. 1. p. 290. sp. 5.—Lath. Ind. 
Ornith. v. 1. 56. 18.—Raii, Syn. p. 25. 3.—Briss. 1. p. 495.— Will. (Ang.} 
. 65. t. 12. : 
Strix Zorca et Giu, Lath. Ind. Ornith. v. 1. p. 56. 15. et 16. 
Le Petit Duc, Buff: Ois. v. 1. p. 353. t. 24.—Id. Pl. Enl. 436. 
Hibou Scops, Temm. Man. d’Ornith. v. 1. p. 107. 
Kleine Ohreule, Bechst. Naturg. Deut. v. 2. p. 912.—-Meyer, Tasschenb. 
Deut. v. 1. p. 74. 
Scops-eared Owl, Lath. Syn. 1. p. 129. t. 15.—Jd. Supp. p. 43.—Mont. Supp. 
to Ornith. Dict.—Bewick’s Supp. to Br. Birds. 
