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THE STRIGID7E, OR THE OWLS. 
The usual taunts of ttis family are in wooded and 
sheltered districts, where they can seek a retreat 
from the glare of the sun and the observation of 
the smaller diurnal birds, who are well known to 
torment them at a time when they can but ill de- 
fend themselves; whether it is that this part of 
Africa possesses few of these nocturnal birds, or from 
any other cause, we have as yet received only three 
species of the family from the districts which have 
supplied us with so many others inhabiting the land. 
Two of these belong to the homed group or Olus, 
the other is a representative of the little passerine 
owls of America. 
WHITE-FACED SCOPS OWL. 
Scops leucotis, Swains. 
Face, white ; ears, margined behind with a black band ; 
egrets, light brown, with delicate transverse lines, and tipt 
externally with deep black : under plumage with a black 
line down the shaft of each feather. 
Strix leucotis, Temm. PI, Col. pi. 16. 
Without any gay or diversified tints, the owl before 
us is nevertheless an unusually elegant bird, so far 
at least as regards its plumage ; for in this family 
the form of the body in all its parts is thick and 
